[MOIMS] [CESG] Implementation of new CCSDS Patent Policy

Nestor.Peccia at esa.int Nestor.Peccia at esa.int
Mon Mar 14 08:35:49 UTC 2011


FYI
----- Forwarded by Nestor Peccia/esoc/ESA on 14/03/2011 09:34 -----

From:
"Hooke, Adrian J (9000)" <adrian.j.hooke at jpl.nasa.gov>
To:
CCSDS Engineering Steering Group - CESG Exec <cesg at mailman.ccsds.org>
Date:
11/03/2011 21:22
Subject:
[CESG] Implementation of new CCSDS Patent Policy
Sent by:
cesg-bounces at mailman.ccsds.org



Area Directors: the CCSDS Management Council has adopted a new policy 
concerning the standardization of patented technologies. The full 
instructions are attached below, but here is the essence of how the policy 
will affect the operations of your BOFs and Working Groups:
 
1.      The ISO patent policy of 2006 has been adopted. You can find 
information at 
http://isotc.iso.org/livelink/livelink/fetch/2000/2122/3770791/customview.html?func=ll&objId=3770791&objAction=browse
 
2.      The basic requirement is that if a proposed Standards-track (Blue 
or Magenta) document depends on a patented technology, that fact must be 
disclosed as soon as a BOF or Working Group is aware of the existence of 
the patent or patents.
 
3.      If a Standards-track document is known to depend on patented 
technology, an Annex must be added which states clearly which patents 
apply and where to apply for a license. The Annex must also contain the 
signed ISO patent statement and licensing declaration form(s).
 
4.      A statement must also be added the introduction to each proposed 
Standards-track document stating whether there are any patent liens. If 
there are, this text must point to the Annex and must state: ?In the event 
that any user of this standard is unable 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?.
 
5.      This policy shall be applied to all new CCSDS projects during the 
chartering process.
 
6.      This policy is retroactive to all current CCSDS projects and to 
all standards-track (Blue, Magenta) documents that have not yet been 
approved.
 
In implementing this policy, it is critical that impact on future users of 
the Standard should be considered. Basically, if you are aware of the 
existence of a patent that could potentially expose someone implementing 
the standard to being liable for infringement, then you must disclose it. 
 
The immediate impact of this policy falls onto the three proposed new 
channel codes which are known to have patent issues: LDPC; SCCC and DVB-S. 
In each case, all patents must be disclosed via addition of the above 
statement and Annex, and a signed ISO Patent Statement and Licensing 
Declaration Form (attached) must be included in the Annex. This form 
should have the ?ISO Deliverable? box checked in the ?Document Type? field 
and the CCSDS document number and title added. The patent holder must 
check either Box 1, 2 or 3 in the Licensing Declaration and must sign the 
form. In addition, the Patent Information section on page-3 must be 
completed. No document will be sent to the CMC for final approval without 
this statement, Annex and signed declaration.
 
The Procedures Manual will be updated soon to reflect this policy. 
However, it is now in effect and it must be followed for all CCSDS 
Standards-track documents. Please give this your fullest attention.
 
Best regards
Adrian
 
Adrian J. Hooke

Chairman, CCSDS Engineering Steering Group (CESG)
Space Communications and Navigation Office (SCaN)
Space Operations Mission Directorate
NASA Headquarters
Washington DC  20024-3210
 
From: Kearney, Mike W. (MSFC-EO01) [mailto:mike.kearney at nasa.gov] 
Sent: Friday, March 11, 2011 12:10 PM
To: Hooke, Adrian J (9000); Nestor.Peccia at esa.int
Cc: cmc at mailman.ccsds.org
Subject: CCSDS Patent Policy - Actions to CESG
 
Dear Adrian and Nestor:  This is a message from the CMC to you as CESG 
chair and deputy with instructions to implement the new CCSDS Patent 
Policy across the CCSDS organization. 
 
In recent teleconferences, the CMC has reached consensus on the 
standardization of patented technologies within CCSDS.  In summary the key 
points are that CCSDS will: 
 
(1)   Change the patent licensing terminology from ?fair and non 
discriminator? to ?reasonable and non-discriminatory?. 
(2)   Follow the ISO process and require the ISO declaration form to be 
filled out and signed by the patent holder. 
(3)   Add standardized text to our documents that explains the patent 
situations for that document. 
(4)   Beyond the ISO process, WG chairs should be required to *attempt* to 
secure the license terms from patent-holders.  However that would not be 
required in order to develop or approve a standard. 
 
To encode that consensus in CCSDS policy, the CMC has adopted two 
resolutions, and assigned some actions to the CESG. 
 
The first resolution: 
 
The CCSDS Management Council: 

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

and RECOGNIZING that ISO has place requirements on CCSDS and SC13 to 
follow ISO processes for documents processed 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;
 
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.
 
The second resolution:
 
The CCSDS Management Council: 

CONSIDERING that the CCSDS policy for 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 provide the ISO patent statement 
and licensing declaration form(s). A statement must also be added the 
introduction to each proposed Standards-track document addressing any 
licensing issues, pointing to the Annex, and stating: ?In the event that 
any user of this standard is unable 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. 
 
There is one important clarification that is needed on the resolution 
above: 
 
Ø  ?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.? 
 
That resolution addresses the worst-case scenario stating that documents 
using patented technologies will not be approved without patent-holder 
signature on the ISO declaration form and it is phrased in a way that will 
not stop currently ongoing work.  However, the CMC also requires that: 
(1)   New charters and document projects must state if patented technology 
is used
(2)   Document projects must have the ISO declaration form signed before 
they can be added to a WG?s work plan
(3)   Existing charters and document projects must be updated to indicate 
their patented technology status, and approved by the CMC. 
 
To implement the policies of those resolutions, the CMC has assigned the 
following action items to the CESG: 
 
The CESG shall implement the CMC Resolutions on Patent Policy with the 
following actions: 
 
1.      Investigate and declare where patented technologies apply to any 
technology used by CCSDS standards, past, present and future; 
2.      Update all WG charters and Projects 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; 
6.      These new policies shall be immediately applied to documents 
currently in work.  In particular, the LDPC and SCCC documents in the SLS 
area have a requirement to have the ISO declaration signed by the patent 
holder, and a goal to get more specific information from the patent holder 
to allow CCSDS to evaluate the "Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory" status 
of the patent licensing policy. 
Action:  CESG Chair and Deputy Chair
Due Date:  Spring 2011 meeting
Status:  Open
 
To enable the updating and approval of Charters and Projects within the 
CCSDS Framework system, the Secretariat is making modifications to the 
online framework.  These modifications will be complete on Monday, March 
14.  At that time the teams will be able to update their charters and 
projects. 
 
We anticipate that this will not be much added work for our WG teams, 
because the technical experts in most working groups will immediately be 
able to respond with ?no patented technologies apply?.   However, as you 
know, there are several SLS efforts underway that very much need to line 
up their efforts with this new policy, especially securing the ISO 
licensing declaration form with the patent-holder signature. 
 
Further, the CMC is considering draft text to update the procedures manual 
for compatibility with the policy stated above.   This should be complete 
within a few weeks.  However, that should not hold up the actions as 
assigned above. 
 
Thanks for your swift implementation of this important policy. 
 
   -=- Mike
 
Mike Kearney
CCSDS Chairman and General Secretary 
www.ccsds.org

****************
Mail Code EO-01
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, Alabama  35803, USA
+1-256-544-2029
Mike.Kearney at nasa.gov
 
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CESG at mailman.ccsds.org
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