Fergal, Here is Donna's response to your message below. She doesn't no subscribe to these mailing lists, so I'm sending her message in proxy.
======================================= Fergal - I appreciate you taking the time to write up your impressions of our commercialization strategy. I am particularly grateful that you called me a sensible businesswoman, although referring to my many decades makes me feel old!! Generally, I feel you have represented the situation correctly. There are a few minor tweaks that I would make, so let me do that here. First, a few corrections. We do not have 58 patents. Perhaps this number includes abandoned applications - I'm not sure. On HTM related technology, we have just over 30 issued patents, with more pending. We're very pleased and proud of this portfolio as it demonstrates that our work is novel. Second, the IP isn't actually "donated" into the open source project. Basically, the open source license that we selected, the GPLv3, includes a "patent peace provision". This provision means that as long as you are using this technology under the open source license, you are permitted to use the patents as well. You might think of it as the license including both the code and the patents. If you are not using the open source license, then you do not have a license to those patents. Now, that being said, we have made a clear statement of non-assertion of patent rights for non-commercial purposes. So, if you are an academic, or you are just experimenting with the technology for a research organization, even if you do NOT use our open source code/license, we have declared that we will not assert those patents. So, the only case where a patent license would be necessary is if you are not using our open source license and want to create a product or to use it internally for commercial purposes. I should note that it is totally fine to start by using our open source software and license, and then to request a switch to a commercial license. Okay - now to the enumerated points. 1. "If you don't develop proprietary software, you can act as a consultant on projects without any need for a license." Yes, this is correct. 2. "If you develop a fork of NuPIC, you can do so as another open source project." This is close, but to be more precise, the terms of the GPLv3 require that if you distribute derivative software, you must also distribute it under the GPLv3, often called "copy left". You cannot create a new open source project with our software under a different open source license, such as a BSD style license. 3. "If you have developed something commercial, contact Numenta for a license." Yes, this is correct. Once you want to distribute something, which in our interpretation includes SaaS implementations, you will need a commercial license unless you are prepared to distribute under the GPLv3. Next, the question of Numenta's financial status. We are principally self-funded, with a little bit of investment from friends and professional investors. As Fergal points out, we have a long term view, so do not want to be inappropriately pressured into monetization strategies before it makes sense. We do not disclose how much money we have invested or at what valuation. Finally, as to the question of our "start-up package". We are in the early stages of thinking through a strategy that would enable start-ups to get a commercial license to our technology (including intellectual property). The idea is to exchange a license for a small stake in the company and a small royalty on revenues. We recently completed our first deal along these lines with Cortical.io. We believe this structure aligns us well in that we will be very happy to help Cortical.io succeed, and it requires no cash from the start-up. We are thinking through whether to formalize this structure as a program, or whether to just handle partners on a case-by-case basis. If this structure interests you, feel free to be in touch. =========================================================== If anyone wants to start the process of getting a commercial license to use NuPIC or HTM technology patented by Numenta, please use https://numenta.com/contact Regards, Matt On Fri, May 15, 2015 at 1:03 PM, Fergal Byrne <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi guys, > > (Anyone commercial/lawyerly from Numenta please correct anything here, this > is just my impressions. IANAL). > > Jeff and others in Numenta hold 58 patents (last time I checked) on > HTM-related technology. Much of this IP has been irrevocably donated into > the open source project NuPIC. My understanding is that any OSS project can > freely use this IP, but a non-OSS project may have some issues. > > As one of the first people to talk to Numenta about commercial exploitation, > I had a great meeting with Donna Dubinsky in November 2013 (part of this was > on behalf of Francisco of cortical.io who had to leave SF just after the > hackathon). Donna laid down some basic principles: > > 1. If you don't develop proprietary software, you can act as a > consultant/configuration/applications expert on a project for a client and > you don't need to discuss with Numenta (this is what I do). > 2. If you want to develop a fork of NuPIC, or anything derived from > Numenta's patents but encompassed in NuPIC, you can do so as another open > source project and inherit some version of NuPIC's license (GPL-like). You > are completely free as long as everything you do is open source. htm.java, > clortex, comportex, and a few more are doing this (I do this too with > clortex). > 3. If you have developed something which is proprietary and commercial, you > should contact Numenta and discuss how to proceed. Numenta's stated mission > is to be a "catalyst for machine intelligence" so you will find them very > amenable to what is going to make your project work (yet to do this). > > As Matt said, this may (as in the case of cortical.io) involve Numenta > taking a stake in your company. This is effectively a form of investment by > Numenta and is only one way to do it. If you think you have a billion dollar > idea which needs HTM technology, but don't yet have the $20m to give to > Numenta, a small stake in your business might make sense to both parties. > > If you're IBM, on the other hand, you might wait until you've identified a > clear business opportunity, and you would prefer to offer Numenta the $20m > in cold cash rather than a chunk of that business. > > In the middle, you'll find Donna is a sensible businesswoman, who knows how > to strike a deal that makes both sides happy. She's been at this for a few > decades with great success. > > If I'm wrong about any of this, I completely misinterpreted my conversation > with Donna, so someone please correct me. > > On Numenta's financial affairs, I'd say that there's a reason Jeff and Donna > decided to keep the company a private business. The two of them have already > seen what happens when founders are forced to bow to corporate forces, and > how their vision becomes compromised. They're lucky (and/or good) enough to > have emerged from that with the resources to build Numenta and share this > with us. Numenta will prosper because there is a great need for experts in > this particular technology, and Numenta has 90% of them in-house. > > Donna, > > the above is my interpretation in broad brush strokes of your policy. If > there's anything grossly amiss please let us know. If it's broadly right, > please indicate "that's broadly right" but people should actually get in > touch. > > I hope that helps. > > Regards > > Fergal Byrne > > > > On Fri, May 15, 2015 at 8:20 PM, Alexander Kettinen <[email protected]> > wrote: >> >> Thanks Matt, last question: what is your current yearly run rate? (If you >> can comment) >> >> Alex >> >> Skickat från min iPhone >> >> 15 May 2015 kl. 22:12 skrev Matthew Taylor <[email protected]>: >> >> Contact Numenta via http://numenta.com/contact/ >> >> Since Numenta is currently a private company, I don't think I should >> comment on our valuation. >> >> Also, no plans for an IPO in the near future as far as I know. >> >> --------- >> Matt Taylor >> OS Community Flag-Bearer >> Numenta >> >> >> On Fri, May 15, 2015 at 11:56 AM, Alexander Kettinen >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Matt, it's a bit premature but what is the contact point for a legal team. >> >> >> Also do you have a internal guesstimate on the value of numenta as per >> today >> >> ? I know it is privately held. >> >> >> Now I must attend my dinner party >> >> >> Have a great weekend >> >> Alex >> >> >> Skickat från min iPhone >> >> >> 15 May 2015 kl. 21:45 skrev David Ragazzi <[email protected]>: >> >> >> Talking stock... When Numenta will go to public? :-p >> >> >> ..or have Numenta interest on this? >> >> >> On 15 May 2015 at 15:41, Matthew Taylor <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> >> On Fri, May 15, 2015 at 11:39 AM, Alexander Kettinen >> >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Matt, can you define partial any further? >> >> >> Meaning stock ownership. >> >> >> --------- >> >> Matt Taylor >> >> OS Community Flag-Bearer >> >> Numenta >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> >> David Ragazzi >> >> Master in Sofware Engineering (University of Liverpool-UK) >> >> OS community commiter at Numenta.org >> >> -- >> >> Have you tried NuPIC Studio? Just check out >> >> https://github.com/nupic-community/nupic.studio and enjoy it! >> >> -- >> >> "I think James Connolly, the Irish revolutionary, is right when he says >> that >> >> the only prophets are those who make their future. So we're not >> >> anticipating, we're working for it." >> >> > > > > -- > > Fergal Byrne, Brenter IT > > http://inbits.com - Better Living through Thoughtful Technology > http://ie.linkedin.com/in/fergbyrne/ - https://github.com/fergalbyrne > > Founder of Clortex: HTM in Clojure - > https://github.com/nupic-community/clortex > > Author, Real Machine Intelligence with Clortex and NuPIC > Read for free or buy the book at https://leanpub.com/realsmartmachines > > Speaking on Clortex and HTM/CLA at euroClojure Krakow, June 2014: > http://euroclojure.com/2014/ > and at LambdaJam Chicago, July 2014: http://www.lambdajam.com > > e:[email protected] t:+353 83 4214179 > Join the quest for Machine Intelligence at http://numenta.org > Formerly of Adnet [email protected] http://www.adnet.ie
