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Oversimplification of the
PPI OPEN PATENT LICENSE
This is an oversimplified version of the Open Patent License--sort
of a summary of what I'm wanting to say in each section.
I'm not a lawyer, so the actual license is almost certainly not legally
workable. I'm also not that good of a writer, so the actual license not
exactly readable either. I would welcome any help in improving it.
(I've talked with a patent attorney who said the idea itself
was workable, but I've not yet gotten legal help on the license itself.
I think it makes sense to get general agreement from potential users
before spending money on legal help.)
-Mark Shewmaker
1. Preamble
Suggests that a patent coss-licensing agreement can provide an escape from
many of the problems patents cause.
2. Definitions
In addition to look and feel copyrights and patents, there
are other intellectual properties that from a practical
point of view act similarly to patents. The definition
list includes a definition for "PLIP"s, which includes these
"Patent-like and Look and feel Intellectual Properties."
3. Submitting patents and PLIPs
and
4. Using Patents and PLIPs from the Open Patent Pools
Patents and PLIPs are submitted by agreeing to any of 7 options
of the OPL.
Patents and PLIPs are available from 7 pools. To use patents
from any specific pool, you have to agree to the conditions for
that pool.
Here are the specifics:
On January 25, I renamed Option and Pool 1 to Option and Pool F,
and shifted Options and Pools 23456 down to 12345.
Also, I broke out the one table into three to make things less
confusing. Here is the original table:
| Table to be deleted (?) | |
|---|
| # |
When agreeing to this license under this numbered option, the
organization is licensing in perpetuity:
|
Into these Open Patent Pools:
|
IP from this pool # may be incorporated into and
distributed in:
|
| 0 |
Specified Patents and PLIPs |
012345F |
Any work. |
| 1 |
Specified Patents and PLIPs |
-12345F |
Any work in which all applicable and valid intellectual property
licensable under this license, (patents and PLIPs), that
would require a license to incorporate and distribute in the work,
are available from this pool number, but only when all remaining
intellectual property requiring a license to incorporate and
distribute in the work is owned by, or licensed for use in this
work by, an organization agreeing to the terms and conditions of
the Open Patent license and the terms and conditions of this Option
number.
|
2 |
Specified Patents and all PLIPs |
--2345F |
| 3 |
All Software Patents |
---345F |
| All PLIPs |
--2345F |
| Specified Patents |
---345F |
| 4 |
All Software Patents |
---345F |
| All PLIPs |
--2345F |
| Specified Patents |
----45F |
| All Patents that are: |
More than this many years from the date of invention: |
As of: |
----45F |
| 10 |
2005-Jan-01 |
| 5 |
2010-Jan-01 |
| 2 |
2014-Jan-01 |
| 1 |
2018-Jan-01 |
| 0.5 |
2025-Jan-01 |
| 0 |
2030-Jan-01 |
| 5 |
All Software Patents |
---345F |
| All PLIPs |
--2345F |
| All Patents |
-----5F |
| F |
Specified Patents and PLIPs |
------F |
Any Open Source work. |
And here is the new and improved, easier-to-read (?) set of three
tables:
|
Submitting Patents and PLIPs places them into Open Patent Pools.
|
|---|
| Submitting patents and PLIPs under Option |
places them into Open Patent Pools:
|
| 0 |
012345F. |
| 1 |
-12345F. |
2 |
--2345F. |
| 3 |
---345F. |
| 4 |
----45F. |
| 5 |
-----5F. |
| F |
------F. |
| Agreeing to some Options automatically places entire
classes of Patents and PLIPs into Open Patent Pools
|
|---|
| Option(s) |
also place(s) |
into this entire set of Open Patent Pools |
| --2345- |
All PLIPs |
--2345F. |
| ---345- |
All Software Patents |
--2345F. |
| ----45- |
All Patents that are: |
More than this many years from the date of invention: |
As of: |
----45F. |
| 10 |
2005-Jan-01 |
| 5 |
2010-Jan-01 |
| 2 |
2014-Jan-01 |
| 1 |
2018-Jan-01 |
| 0.5 |
2025-Jan-01 |
| 0 |
2030-Jan-01 |
| -----5- |
All Patents |
-----5F. |
| IP from a Pool can only be used under the terms
and conditions associated with that Pool.
|
|---|
| Patents and PLIPs from Pool |
may be incorporated into and distributed in any work |
by |
| 0 |
- |
anyone. |
| 1 |
in which all applicable and valid intellectual properties
licensable under this license, (patents and PLIPs), that
would require a license to incorporate and distribute in the work,
are available from this pool
|
anyone agreeing to the terms and conditions of the Open
Patent License and the Option of the same name as this pool.
|
| 2 |
| 3 |
| 4 |
| 5 |
| F |
distributable under an Open Source license, and for which
all incorporated Patents and PLIPS are either licensed
under Option F of this license or can be used under the terms
of the Open Source license the work is distributable under, or both |
anyone. |
Your agreements are hierarchically downward-binding. For instance, if
an organization agrees to submits all its software patents under
the OPL, the agreement is binding for any owned organizations. (An organization
cannot evade the agreement by owning a subsidiary that doesn't also agree, or
colluding with other organizations to own a subsidiary that doesn't
agree, whether done intentionally or not. The license also requires
you to work to have owned organizations explicitly agree as well.)
You can also remove your IP submitted or scheduled to be submitted
within 10 days of your agreement, or within 3 months of version 1.0.0 of
the license, whichever is later.
You can't add extra limitations to the agreement.
You can document the patents or PLIPs you use in a file PATENTS.INC,
which is assumed to be helpful information, not an official legal
viewpoint of your organization.
If you are incorporating a patent into a work, the work as a whole
must meet the requirements of the OPL pool you are using.
5. Additional Costs
Although are no explicit costs required to use the license, in
practice you may be required to submit patents of your own before
your use of the license become cost-effective.
6. Interpretation of this agreement
This section discusses how the license should be interpreted and
also includes a Joint and Severability clause.
7. Future Changes
The license may be revised over time, subject to some limitations.
PPI can make any changes before version 1.0.0. Afterwards, PPI can make
certain minor editing changes and changes that don't affect current users.
Otherwise, any changes can be vetoed by IP holders as measured by
a proxy of 5% of submitted patents.
Last Modified on
February 10 2000 04:33:06 UTC
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Mark Shewmaker
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