Proposal to address Open Source concerns

Chairs-

 

Both the XRI and XDI TC's were contacted directly by 
signatories to Larry Rosen's open 
letter (http://www.crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3:mss:9543:eipghffcblnbhjiggalm).

They knew that a number of open source developers participate in 
both TCs, and they asked for our input. We 
pointed out that both TCs have always had 
the commitment to RF in our charters, so there was never any question of 
the IPR mode for our 
specifications.

However it became clear to us in this dialog that there was a 
very real danger that those who find issue with RAND in open standards 
could "tar all OASIS TCs with the same 
brush". In other words, there is a danger that even specifications from those OASIS TCs who are 
committed to encouraging Open Source (tm) 
implementations and RF-on-limited-terms 
would become suspect in the larger community of adopters. 

This possibility has us very 
concerned. 

To be clear, we personally 
understand that OASIS needs to offer multiple IPR modes to maintain the scope of its current work 
and we do believe that if OASIS 
did not provide RAND options, it would 
simply force certain work to be done 
elsewhere, perhaps in a less-open 
manner. However, 
we are also worried that the if OASIS does not respond to the concerns of 
the Open Source community, there may be strong incentive for potential 
Open-Source-friendly work to go elsewhere to avoid the controversy and 
confusion altogether. We discussed how we might address the 
concerns, and while we aren't going to please everyone, we did come up with a 
solution that seems practical and compatible with OASIS goals and current 
practice. 

Our proposal is to have 
appropriate TCs use a prominent label/logo to indicate 
that the TC's output is is 
"Open Source(tm) Compatible". Any output of this TC would then have to be licensed in 
a way which explicitly allows Open Source implementation (which implies RF 
terms, among others). This very well might mean tweaking or replacing the new 
RF-with-limited-terms license mode. 

Since the Open Source community already defines the 
meaning of "Open Source", we believe the best way to do move forward would be to engage the 
Open Source community (especially the attorneys and the people at the Open 
Source Initiative) to:

  
determine what such a label/logo might look like and 
  mean, and 

  
create or ensure that there is 
  an OASIS RF license (for patent, copyright, trademark IPR) mode for 
  TC's  that allows Open Source (tm) implementation.

We suggest this may be a very fruitful avenue for discussion 
with the proponents of this letter, and 
invite the opinion of other Chairs on this 
approach.

Best,

Gabe Wachob, Visa International, Co-Chair, XRI TC

Drummond Reed, Cordance, Co-Chair, XRI & XDI TCs

Geoffrey Strongin, AMD, Co-Chair, XDI TC
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Chief Systems Architect 
Technology Strategies and Standards 
Visa 
International 
Phone: +1.650.432.3696   
Fax: +1.650.554.6817