6. Copyright, trademark, and patents
6.1 Copyright
All IEEE standards are copyrighted by the IEEE under the provisions of the US Copyright Act.
6.1.1 Project Authorization Request (PAR)
As part of the initial PAR procedure, the committee or working group shall appoint a chair who shall sign a Copyright Agreement acknowledging that the proposed standard constitutes a "work made for hire" as defined by the Copyright Act, and that as to any work not so defined, any rights or interest in the copyright to the standards publication is transferred to the IEEE. Except as noted below, the IEEE is the sole copyright owner of all material included in the standard.
At the time of PAR completion, any previously copyrighted material intended for inclusion shall be identified. The working group is responsible for receiving written permission to use all copyrighted material prior to the start of ballot invitation or prior to the next recirculation ballot if the excerpted material is inserted during comment resolution. Sample form letters are available in the IEEE Standards Style Manual.
6.1.2 Drafts of proposed IEEE standards
All drafts of proposed IEEE standards shall contain the copyright statement provided in subclause 4.2.2 of the IEEE Standards Style Manual.
6.2 Trademark
6.2.1 General
References to commercial equipment in a standard shall be generic and shall not include trademarks or other proprietary designations. Where a sole source exists for essential equipment or materials, it is permissible to supply the name of the trademark owner in a footnote. (See clause 7 in the IEEE Standards Style Manual.)
6.2.2 PAR form
During the PAR procedure, the working group shall identify any possible trademark use for the forthcoming standard. The instructions in 6.2.1 shall be adhered to prior to RevCom submittal.
6.3 Patents
The patent policy is set forth in clause 6 of the IEEE-SA Standards Board Bylaws and is incorporated herein by reference.
Letters of Assurance are to be e-mailed, faxed, or mailed to the IEEE Standards Association (to the attention of the PatCom Administrator). The PatCom Administrator shall accept each Letter of Assurance that is complete and is received from an individual within the issuing organization whose title suggests authority for intellectual property and legal matters. The PatCom Administrator's duties with regard to Letters of Assurance shall be purely ministerial (i.e., without regard to or exercise of the PatCom Administrator's discretion regarding the content of the Letters of Assurance received). For each Accepted Letter of Assurance, the PatCom Administrator shall record the date on the signed Letter of Assurance and the date upon which the IEEE accepted such. The chair or the chair's delegate of an IEEE standards-developing working group or the chair of an IEEE standards Sponsor shall request a Letter of Assurance from Affiliates specifically excluded on an Accepted Letter of Assurance.
Upon written request, the IEEE will make available copies of any Accepted Letter of Assurance and its attachments. Letters received after 31 December 2006 shall be posted on the IEEE-SA website.
6.3.1 Public notice
The following notice shall appear when the IEEE receives assurance from a claimed patent holder or patent applicant prior to the time of publication that a license will be made available to all applicants either without compensation or under reasonable rates, with reasonable terms and conditions that are demonstrably free of any unfair discrimination.
Attention is called to the possibility that implementation of this standard may require use of subject matter covered by patent rights. By publication of this standard, no position is taken with respect to the existence or validity of any patent rights in connection therewith. A patent holder or patent applicant has filed a statement of assurance that it will grant licenses under these rights without compensation or under reasonable rates, with reasonable terms and conditions that are demonstrably free of any unfair discrimination to applicants desiring to obtain such licenses. Other Essential Patent Claims may exist for which a statement of assurance has not been received. The IEEE is not responsible for identifying Essential Patent Claims for which a license may be required, for conducting inquiries into the legal validity or scope of Patents Claims, or determining whether any licensing terms or conditions provided in connection with submission of a Letter of Assurance, if any, or in any licensing agreements are reasonable or non-discriminatory. Users of this standard are expressly advised that determination of the validity of any patent rights, and the risk of infringement of such rights, is entirely their own responsibility. Further information may be obtained from the IEEE Standards Association.
If the IEEE has not received Letters of Assurance prior to the time of publication, the following notice shall appear:
Attention is called to the possibility that implementation of this standard may require use of subject matter covered by patent rights. By publication of this standard, no position is taken with respect to the existence or validity of any patent rights in connection therewith. The IEEE is not responsible for identifying Essential Patent Claims for which a license may be required, for conducting inquiries into the legal validity or scope of Patents Claims or determining whether any licensing terms or conditions provided in connection with submission of a Letter of Assurance, if any, or in any licensing agreements are reasonable or non-discriminatory. Users of this standard are expressly advised that determination of the validity of any patent rights, and the risk of infringement of such rights, is entirely their own responsibility. Further information may be obtained from the IEEE Standards Association.
6.3.2 Call for patents
The chair or the chair's delegate of an IEEE standards-developing working group or the chair of an IEEE standards Sponsor shall be responsible for informing the members of the working group that if any individual believes that Patent Claims might be Essential Patent Claims, that fact should be made known to the entire working group and duly recorded in the minutes of the working group meeting. This request shall occur at every standards-developing meeting once the PAR is approved by the IEEE-SA Standards Board.
The chair or the chair's delegate shall ask any patent holder or patent applicant of a Patent Claim that might be or become an Essential Patent Claim to complete and submit a Letter of Assurance in accordance with Clause 6 of the IEEE-SA Standards Board Bylaws. Information about the draft standard will be made available upon request.
6.3.3 Withdrawn standards
All active IEEE standards are subject to periodic review for reaffirmation, revision, or withdrawal every five years, and for stabilization every ten years. Thus, any standard that incorporates patented technology may at some point in time be withdrawn. Clause 6 of the IEEE-SA Standards Board Bylaws contains policies concerning the period of validity for any Letter of Assurance received from a party regarding an Essential Patent Claim.
6.3.4 Multiple Letters of Assurance and Blanket Letters of Assurance
A Submitter may provide the IEEE with a Blanket Letter of Assurance for a specific [Proposed] IEEE Standard that covers all Essential Patent Claims the Submitter may currently or in the future have the ability to license. A Submitter may submit separate Letters of Assurance providing different licensing positions for different potential Essential Patent Claims.
Over time, a Submitter may also provide multiple assurances for a given Patent Claim by submitting multiple Letters of Assurance for such claim. For Essential Patent Claims, each such Letter of Assurance shall be binding on the Submitter. Each potential licensee may choose to invoke the terms of any applicable Letter of Assurance accepted by the IEEE, with one exception: If a Submitter has signed and submitted a Letter of Assurance specifically identifying a Patent Claim before or concurrently with signing and submitting a Blanket Letter of Assurance, the Blanket Letter of Assurance cannot be invoked as to the specified Patent Claim. (The Submitter, however, may submit a separate specific Letter of Assurance offering the Blanket Letter of Assurance terms for the specified Patent Claim.) The intention of this paragraph is to permit the Submitter to offer alternative assurances, and to permit the potential licensee to choose from among the alternative assurances offered.
If, after providing a Blanket Letter of Assurance, the Submitter acquires an Essential Patent Claim or a controlling interest in an entity that owns or controls an Essential Patent Claim, the existing Submitter's Blanket Letter of Assurance shall apply to such acquired Essential Patent Claims unless the acquired entity or the prior holder of the acquired Essential Patent Claim has submitted a Letter of Assurance before the acquisition. Any Blanket Letter of Assurance submitted by the acquired entity or the prior holder of the acquired Essential Patent Claim before the acquisition shall continue to apply to acquired Essential Patent Claims covered by such assurance (but not to the acquirer's Essential Patent Claims). Letters of Assurance covering specified Essential Patent Claims shall continue to apply to specified Essential Patent Claims, whether acquired in the acquisition or held by the acquirer before the acquisition, as provided in this Operations Manual. Nothing in this paragraph shall prevent an acquiring party from asking a seller of an acquired Essential Patent Claim or an acquired entity to submit additional Letters of Assurance before closing of the acquisition.
6.3.5 Applicability of Letters of Assurance to Amendments, Corrigenda, Editions, or Revisions
An Accepted Letter of Assurance referencing an existing standard, amendment, corrigendum, edition, or revision will remain in force for the application of the Essential Patent Claim(s) to the technology specified in another amendment, corrigendum, edition, or revision of the same IEEE Standard but only if (a) the application of the technology required by the amendment, corrigendum, edition, or revision of the same IEEE Standard has not changed from its previous usage and (b) the same Essential Patent Claims covered by the prior Accepted Letter of Assurance remain Essential Patent Claims in the same IEEE Standard or revision thereof.
The Working Group Chair shall initiate a request for a new Letter of Assurance from a known Submitter when re-using portions of, or technologies specified in, an existing [Proposed] IEEE Standard, amendment, corrigendum, edition, or revision referenced in an Accepted Letter of Assurance in a different [Proposed] IEEE Standard.
