Hi,
I am a researcher from the University of Skövde, Sweden and currently
involved in analysis of standards and their implementation in software,
with a specific focus on licensing conditions for standards and software
projects. I am currently investigating conditions for use and
implementation of technical specifications of a set of specific
standards (please see below for references to the specific standards) in
software provided under proprietary licenses, as well as free and open
source software (FOSS) licenses. For the purpose of this survey, we will
use FOSS when referring to software provided under a software licensed
recognised by one (or both) of the two organisations: Free Software
Foundation and Open Source Initiative (i.e. a license recognised by one
or both of http://www.fsf.org/licensing/ and
http://opensource.org/licenses). Specifically we are interested in your
experiences of challenges related to implementation of standards in free
and open source software, and in particular the specific experiences you
and your project have gained over the years.
In my role as researcher at the University of Skövde I have provided
input to several national studies advising European and Swedish policy
in the area, and this request for information is part of an
investigation aimed to provide recommendations concerning use of
standards in the Swedish context. I am also a member of the Swedish
national IT-standardisation advisory council established by the Swedish
Government, which provides input to Swedish national strategies and policy.
From information provided by OASIS I also understand that there may be
patent declarations for specific standards that have (or have not) been
submitted to OASIS and that there may also be other patents (that have
not been submitted to OASIS) which may impact on the conditions for use
of the OASIS standard "OASIS Open Document Format for Office
Applications (OpenDocument) Version 1.2". To this end, I have also
understood that implementation of specific standards may involve legal
and licensing challenges for FOSS projects.
At this point, I have some specific questions concerning your
experiences related to implementation of standards in your FOSS project.
Therefore, I hope you would be able to share some of these experiences
by providing responses to the specific questions (please see below).
Many thanks in advance for sharing your experiences related to the
specific questions (please see below).
Kind regards,
--Björn
Associate Professor Björn Lundell, Ph.D.
Software Systems Research Group
University of Skövde
P.O. Box 408
SE-541 28 SKOVDE
Sweden
E-mail: bjorn.lund...@his.se
My questions concern the following technical specification of the OASIS
standard:
OASIS, OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument)
Version 1.2, OASIS Standard, 29 September 2011,
https://www.oasis-open.org/standards#opendocumentv1.2
From the information provided in the OASIS patent database and
elsewhere I understand that several organisations control patents which
potentially impact on conditions for implementation of the technical
specification(s) in software, in particular when implemented in a FOSS
project.
From the information provided by OASIS (27 April 2015) concerning
patent declarations I have analysed the content of these web pages:
https://www.oasis-open.org/standards#opendocumentv1.2
http://docs.oasis-open.org/office/v1.2/OpenDocument-v1.2.pdf
https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/office/ipr.php
https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=office
https://www.oasis-open.org/policies-guidelines/ipr
From an analysis of patent declarations that have been submitted to
OASIS and provided on the OASIS web site, I have identified some
declarations related to the OASIS standard "OASIS Open Document Format
for Office Applications (OpenDocument) Version 1.2":
https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/office/ipr.php
In addition, I understand from the information provided by OASIS that
this information is made available for information purposes only. Hence,
I understand that the information may be incomplete (e.g. some relevant
patents impacting on the OASIS standard "OASIS Open Document Format for
Office Applications (OpenDocument) Version 1.2" may be missing) and the
information may also be incorrect (e.g. some patents may have expired,
some patents may now be valid but controlled by another organisation,
etc.).
My questions concern the specific patents (and other IP) which may
impact on the implementation of the technical specification(s) of the
OASIS standard "OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications
(OpenDocument) Version 1.2" in software in your (and other) FOSS
projects. Further, in case you are aware of patents (and other IP) that
other organisations control I would be very grateful for any additional
information (or references to other sources) which may aid to bring
clarity to the conditions for implementation of the OASIS standard
"OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument)
Version 1.2" in software in general, and in a FOSS project in particular.
For all questions below, please note that "royalty-free conditions"
refers to conditions in which "patents possibly present - of (parts of)
the standard is made irrevocably available on a royalty-free basis".
Question 1: In case your FOSS project (and the organisation related to
your project) has previously agreed (related to the OASIS standard
"OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument)
Version 1.2") specific licensing conditions (including non-asserts) for
use of the patents (and other IP) which other organisations (mentioned
or not mentioned in the OASIS patent database) have control over would
it be possible to gain access to the name of (and contact information
to) the organisations you have agreed such agreements with?
Question 2: Are you (or other individuals representing your FOSS
project) aware of any other FOSS projects that have implemented the
patents (and other IP) that organisations listed in the OASIS patent
database have control over (related to the OASIS standard "OASIS Open
Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) Version 1.2")? If
so, which are these FOSS projects?
Question 3: In case your FOSS project (and the organisation related to
your project) has previously agreed (related to the OASIS standard
"OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument)
Version 1.2") specific licensing conditions (including non-asserts) (or
benefits from an existing arrangement) for use of the patents (and other
IP) which the project and organisation (or projects and organisations)
you represent has implemented in your FOSS project would it be possible
for you to mention with which organisations your project has reached (or
benefited from) agreements? If you, for confidentiality reasons, do not
want to name specific organisations, can you please perhaps indicate if
you have reached agreements with one (or several) organisation(s) not
included in the OASIS patent database (related to the OASIS standard
"OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument)
Version 1.2")? Also, can you please perhaps indicate if you have reached
agreements with one (or several) organisation(s) which are included in
the OASIS patent database (related to the OASIS standard "OASIS Open
Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) Version 1.2")?
Question 4: Are you (or other individuals representing your FOSS
project) aware of any FOSS project that for legal reasons has tried to
(and for legal reasons decided not to) implement one (or several) of the
patents (and other IP) that organisations listed in the OASIS patent
database have control over? If so, which are these FOSS projects? In
case you do not want to disclose the name of specific projects, what are
the main legal reasons for why the project(s) you are aware of has
decided not to implement the OASIS standard "OASIS Open Document Format
for Office Applications (OpenDocument) Version 1.2"?
Question 5: Are you (or other individuals representing your FOSS
project) aware of any FOSS project that has implemented the patents (and
other IP) that organisations listed in the OASIS patent database have
control over (related to the OASIS standard "OASIS Open Document Format
for Office Applications (OpenDocument) Version 1.2") and later been
approached by these (or other) organisations with claims concerning
violation of rights related to patents (and other IP rights) caused by
(or claimed to be caused by) implementation of the OASIS standard "OASIS
Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) Version 1.2"
in the FOSS project? If so, what type of requests have your (and other)
project(s) received? In case you do not want to disclose specific FOSS
projects, what are the main legal reasons for why the project(s) you are
aware of have received such requests after having implemented the OASIS
standard "OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications
(OpenDocument) Version 1.2"? And which organisations have approached
your project(s) with such requests? In case you do not want to disclose
specific organisations, could you characterise whether the organisations
in question are non-practising entities (trolls) or not?
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