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Patent Advisory Group procedures
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This document specifies the procedures undertaken by the W3C Team, with the cooperation of others, in the early stages following the surfacing of an exception within the context of the W3C Patent Policy. In brief, an "exception" is a patent that has been, or may be, disclosed, and that is believed to be essential to implementation of a W3C Recommendation or a document on the Recommendation track, but is not available under W3C Royalty-Free (RF) licensing requirements. The normal results of such an exception is the launch of a Patent Advisory Group (PAG).

The purpose of documenting the procedures here is to ensure that the Team, the W3C Members, the Working Group (WG), the patent holder, and the public have a clear understanding of the events that may unfold in the wake of an exception, and the expected timeline for such events.

Status of this Document {#status}

This document was reviewed by the W3C Patents and Standards Interest Group in 2007 and published in the W3C Patent Policy FAQ in January 2008. Over time, the W3C expects acquire a larger set of best practices regarding PAG operations.

Procedures for Launching a PAG {#launch}

Note: Some of the links to examples below are Member confidential. The REX PAG documents are given as examples of content, though the timeline on which they were issued was slower than is described below. See the principles behind these procedures.

Schedule {#schedule}

The following deadlines ("must") and recommended ("should") deadlines are presented relative to the earlier of (a) the time of an exclusion within a WG, and (b) the time that a Chair of a WG requests that a PAG be convened.

  • Within 30 days: The Team must initiate discussions with the WG Chair, Team Contact and Members of the WG, as well as the patent holder, to support development of a strategy and plan for subsequent steps. Objectives of these discussions may include:

    • Ascertain the desired schedule for completing the PAG investigation in light of the WG's plans.
    • Seek clarifications regarding the intent and content of the patent(s) from the patent holder. See if they are willing to retract their exclusion and/or offer licensing terms consistent with the Patent Policy. (PAG will likely seek additional data from them later.)
    • Explore resource needs and availability. Consider Team resources. Explore the level of effort Members are willing to put into the PAG. Consider the need for outside legal counsel and the willingness for Member to help finance the necessary resources through financial contributions to the Web Legal Support Fund.

  • Within 60 days: The Team must report to the W3C Advisory Committee on the status and plan regarding launching a PAG.

  • Within 90 days: The Team should launch the PAG, unless the discussions above provide a strong reason for an earlier launch, a later launch, or the removal of the need to launch (e.g., the exclusion is withdrawn or W3C Patent Policy licensing terms are granted).

Steps {#steps}

The following steps must be completed prior to and at the launch of the PAG (links to existing examples are illustrative, and not necessarily ideal):

  1. Development of PAG Charter (REX PAG, Dec 2006).

  2. Creation of Supporting Systems

    • Archived Mailing Lists (where the primary work of the PAG is conducted must be consistent with the associated WG).

      • Member (REX PAG, Dec 2006). Subscribe all current AC Reps. Change depending upon the results of the WBS survey of the Members in the WG (see below).
      • Public (REX PAG, Dec 2006).

    • PAG Home pages (where the primary work of the PAG is conducted must be consistent with the associated WG).

    • Add links to mailing lists and PAG pages from the Public (REX PAG, Dec 2006) and Member home pages of the WG.

  3. Call for Participation

    • Create WBS form for participation (REX PAG, Dec 2006)

      • Make it clear the AC Reps of the Members in the WG are the default participants in the PAG.
      • An AC Rep may designate an alternative are members of the PAG, plus another person if desired (e.g., legal counsel).

    • Send Participation form to Members (REX PAG, Dec 2006)

  4. Launch of the PAG

    • Announcement to Members (REX PAG, Dec 2006)
    • Announcement to the Public: Home page news (REX PAG, Dec 2006). Ensure there are clear links to the PAG charter, disclosures/exclusions and the organization holding the patent.
    • Arrange for first teleconference no sooner than 2(4?) weeks after announcement.

  5. Conclusion of the PAG: Refer to the W3C Patent Policy.

PAG Operations {#operations}

How a PAG operates will depend largely upon its charter, the evolution of the facts and circumstances associated with the exception, and the Member initiatives. A subset of things to keep in mind during PAG operations:

Principles Behind These Procedures {#principles}

The principles behind the launch procedures are derived from the W3C Patent Policy, and in particular, Section 7 on Exception Handling.

  • When to start the PAG depends on the situation; but earlier is generally better than later. The timing of the launch of a PAG is at the discretion of the Director, based on consultation with the Chair of the relevant Working Group. The start of the PAG could be as early as before a exceptional patent it disclosed, to as late as during the Last Call or Candidate Recommendation stages. The goal is to start the PAG at a time when it is believed that the patent licensing problems can be best resolved [Section 7.4.1].
  • The Working Group should continue to operate. W3C should act so as to allow the relevant Working Group to keep working while the exception is being handled [Section 7.1], and to handle the exception effectively such that the group's work can continue with a high-level of certainty that their products will be implementable on RF licensing terms [Section 2]. Delays in addressing the exception could effect the motivation for the WG to move forward. Conclusions of the PAG and any subsequent, related actions by the Director and the AC should be completed before the specification in question is proposed to move to Proposed Recommendation [FAQ 29].
  • All Members represented in the WG are members of the PAG. This is not something to which a Member signs up for or resigns from, though a Member may designate an alternate and/or additional people to participate [Section 7.3].
  • The level of access control for the PAG's main work is the same as that of the underlying WG [Section 7.4.2].
  • W3C will keep the public informed. As soon as the PAG is convened, the PAG charter will be made public, along with all of the patent disclosure and licensing statements applicable to the WG [Section 7.4.2].