In recent years, due to the advent of Linux, Wikipedia and alike, the term ‘open‘, as it relates to royalty-free, has gained more popularity and is rapidly becoming an household term. Everyday new projects and applications are created within this young concept. As it relates to standards however, there exists a number of interpretations for the institutions that partake in their creation.
Numerous definitions of the term preserve the right that standard or patent holders may and permit the charge of licensing and/or royalty fees per use and/or standard’s implementation. For example, major internationally recognized standard institutions such as the IETF and ITU-T hold the right to require payment upon implementation of either the parts or whole of their specifications, though these institutions create ‘open standards‘.
Part of our overall vision at Diplomatic Goods is to differentiate and to disallow direct licensing fees. The collaborative works that we intend to create are to remain under a licensing scheme that would uphold this vision and facilitate the expansion, adaptation and ease of new members within the organic industry, including improved consumer awareness, education and protection.
Consequently, we have chosen to base our vision on Ken Krechmer’s ten principles of Open Standards:
1. Open Meeting
2. Consensus
3. Due Process
4. Open Intellectual Property
5. One World
6. Open Change
7. Open Documents
8. Open Interface
9. Open Use &
10. On-going Support
What does this means for you? The ideas we put forward will cause undoubtedly significant disruptions within current standards’ bureaucracy processes. They will lower costs, improve ease of adaptation, significantly increase stakeholder participations, improve the ease of new participants, and promote true global consensus.
Illustration: Kubina