[CMC] Proposed resolutins for CCSDS Patent Policy

Juan.Miro at esa.int Juan.Miro at esa.int
Mon Feb 21 02:45:42 EST 2011


dear mike and fellow CMC delegates,

Well Done !!!

I am Ok with the text proposed.

Regards
Juan


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  |"Kearney, Mike W. (MSFC-EO01)" <mike.kearney at nasa.gov>                                                                                                |
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  |CCSDS Management Council <cmc at mailman.ccsds.org>                                                                                                      |
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  |13/02/2011 18:09                                                                                                                                      |
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  |[CMC] Proposed resolutins for CCSDS Patent Policy                                                                                                     |
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  |cmc-bounces at mailman.ccsds.org                                                                                                                         |
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CMC Colleagues:

In our special telecon on CCSDS Patent Policy last Thursday, there several
points where we reached consensus, as recorded in the draft minutes .  As
mentioned in the minutes, some CCSDS WG teams  are already processing
documents that can be affected by our policy, or the lack thereof.  I took an
action to  provide some concrete recommendations on how to deal with this.

I believe we reached consensus on these items:
   (1)    Change the patent licensing terminology from “fair and non
   discriminatory” to “reasonable and non-discriminatory”.
   (2)    Adopt the ISO patent policy, follow the ISO process and in
   particular require that the ISO declaration form must be filled out and
   signed by the patent holder.
   (3)    Add standardized text to our documents that explains any patent
   liens against that document.
   (4)    Beyond the ISO process, WG chairs should be required to *attempt*
   to secure the precise licensing terms from patent-holders, including the
   schedule of royalty fees.  However that would not be required in order to
   develop or approve a standard.

A CMC resolution to establish (1) and (2) would set the policy.  A CMC
resolution for (3) and an action to the CESG for (4) would implement the
policy.

So, I am going to propose two CMC polls and some actions for the Secretariat
and CESG.  I am sending these now, so that we can have email discussion, if
needed, before the CMC polls are issued.  If you would like some changes to
the text, or if you see problems with having these polls, let me know.  If
there are no problems, we will issue them next weekend, with two weeks to
consider and vote.

Here are my proposed resolutions and actions.

The first resolution, setting (1) and (2) in place:

      The CCSDS Management Council:

      CONSIDERING that there is an increase in the usage of Patented
      Technology in CCSDS standardization efforts, and a clear CCSDS policy
      on the topic is needed;

      and RECOGNIZING that, in our capacity as SC13, ISO has inherently
      placed requirements on CCSDS to follow ISO patent policy and processes
      for documents advanced as ISO standards;

      and NOTING that ISO and other standards organizations generally apply
      “Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory” (RAND) requirements to license
      fees;

      ADOPTS the 2006 ISO patent policy and requires that this policy be
      implemented during the process of chartering a working group or adding
      a new project/document to a WG charter;

      And REQUIRES that the ISO patent statement and licensing declaration
      form must be completed before any CCSDS document can be submitted to
      the CMC for potential approval on the Standards track.

      And ADOPTS the terminology “Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory” (RAND)
      as a requirement for patent holders’ licensing processes and fees in
      CCSDS procedure documentation (current and draft).


The second resolution, addressing (3);

      The CCSDS Management Council:

      CONSIDERING that the CCSDS policy for standardizing patented technology
      must be implemented in the CCSDS processes;

      and RECOGNIZING the importance of communicating patent license
      requirements to the users of CCSDS documentation;

      and NOTING that ISO guidance must be urgently communicated to the CCSDS
      working groups currently developing standards affected by this policy;

      REQUIRES that an Annex covering patent issues must be added to each
      Standards track document.  The annex must state clearly which patents
      apply, where to apply for a license and must also attach the signed ISO
      patent statement and licensing declaration form(s). A statement must
      also be added the introduction to each proposed Standards-track
      document addressing Patent issues, noting any patents that apply to the
      document, referencing the Annex if there are patent liens, and stating:
      “In the event that any user of this standard is unable to obtain a
      license, or to obtain a license under what they consider to be
      reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, they are requested to contact
      the CCSDS Secretariat at the address shown on the AUTHORITY page of
      this document”.

      And REQUIRES that this policy shall be applied to all documents that
      are currently in the CCSDS approval process.

Additionally, to further implement those resolutions, we will direct the
Secretariat to create two CMC actions to the Secretariat and the CESG:

Action to the Secretariat:  Set up the CCSDS project framework to include the
requirement and process for identifying any patented technology encumbrance
in the charters of all CCSDS working groups and projects.

Action to the CESG, including (4) from above:  Instruct all WGs and BOFs to:
      (1)    investigate and declare where patented technologies apply to any
      technology used by CCSDS standards, past, present and future;
      (2)    update all WG charters to reflect the existence (or lack
      thereof) for any such patent issues,
      (3)    begin the process of using the ISO patent policy, including
      securing the license declaration form.
      (4)    Familiarize the WG chairs with the ISO Patent database so that
      they can research patents that are already in the ISO database.
      (5)    When possible, secure written information from the patent
      holders about their intended terms (including royalties and fee
      schedule, when possible) for granting licenses for the use of their
      technologies.

Due dates for both actions are the CMC Spring 2011 meeting in Berlin.

We will wait a week (until next weekend) to allow any email discussions or
proposed revisions of those resolutions/actions, and then issue the CMC poll.

Thanks to everyone for your dialogue with the group last Thursday.  We
continue to make progress at unraveling this complex issue, and getting CCSDS
back on track with management policies and processes that reinforce the
integrity of our outstanding CCSDS standards.

Best regards,

   -=- Mike

Mike Kearney
NASA MSFC EO-01
256-544-2029

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