2021-07-13

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Abstract

The AgGateway Patent Policy governs the handling of patents in the process of producing agriculture-industry Digital Resources [PROCESS, section 2]. The goal of this policy is to assure that Digital Resources produced under this policy can be implemented on a Royalty-Free (RF) basis.

The term digital resource is defined as: Refers to any digital content developed with the intent of assisting companies with implementing electronic connectivity between systems and devices within their own company, and between their company and other companies. Digital Resource includes standards, guidelines, communications tools, project-management tools, implementation tools, and requirements or proposals passed on to a Collaborating Digital Resources Body. [PROCESS, section 2]

Status of This Document

This is the Jul 13, 2021 version of the AgGateway Patent Policy.

This document has been approved by the AgGateway Board of Directors effective Jul 13, 2021 and has been endorsed by the AgGateway President as the AgGateway Patent Policy. It is a stable document and may be used as reference material or cited as a normative reference from another document. AgGateway's role in making this policy is to provide a stable policy for handling patent claims in the context of AgGateway Digital Resources and to enhance the interoperability of agriculture-related systems. This policy was produced by the AgGateway staff.

Please report errors in this document to Member.Services@AgGateway.org. The list of known errors is public.

The English version of this policy is the only normative version.

Changes from Previous Version

Summary of Changes

1. Updated § 4.2 to add additional paragraph at end of section.

Table of Contents

1. Overview

This patent policy describes:

1. licensing goals for AgGateway Digital Resources

2. licensing obligations that Working Group participants will undertake as a condition of Working Group [PROCESS, section 2] participation, along with means of excluding specific patents from those obligations

3. the definition of an AgGateway Royalty-Free license

4. disclosure rules for AgGateway Members

5. an exception-handling process for situations in which the Royalty-Free status of a specification comes under question

6. definition of Essential Claims (defined in Section 8 herein) 

All numbered sections of this document (1-8), as well as hyperlinks to material within and outside of this document, are normative. All sections of The AgGateway Digital Resource-Development Process (“PROCESS”) referenced in this patent policy are incorporated into this policy.

2. Licensing Goals for AgGateway Digital Resources

In order to promote the widest adoption of agriculture-related Digital Resources, AgGateway seeks to issue Digital Resources that can be implemented on a Royalty-Free (RF) basis. Subject to the conditions of this policy, AgGateway will not publish a Digital Resource if it is aware that Essential Claims exist which are not available on Royalty-Free terms.

To this end, Working Group [PROCESS, section 2] charters will include a reference to this policy and a requirement that specifications produced by the Working Group will be implementable on an RF basis, to the best ability of the Working Group and AgGateway.

3. Licensing Obligations of Working Group Participants

The following obligations shall apply to all participants in AgGateway Working Groups. These obligations will be referenced from each Working Group charter and Calls for Participation [PROCESS, sections 3 and 4].

3.1. AgGateway RF Licensing Requirements for All Working Group Participants

As a condition of participating in a Working Group, each participant (AgGateway Members [PROCESS, sections 3 and 4], invited experts, and members of the public) shall agree to make available under AgGateway RF licensing requirements any Essential Claims related to the work of that particular Working Group. This requirement includes Essential Claims that the participant owns and any that the participant has the right to license without obligation of payment or other consideration to an unrelated third party. With the exception of the provisions of section 4 below, AgGateway RF licensing obligations made concerning the work the particular Working Group and described in this policy are binding on participants for the life of the patents in question and encumber the patents containing Essential Claims, regardless of changes in participation status or AgGateway Membership.

3.2. Limitation on Licensing Requirement for Non-Participating Members

Only the affirmative act of joining a Working Group, or otherwise agreeing to the licensing terms described here, will obligate a Member to the AgGateway RF licensing commitments. Mere Membership in AgGateway alone, without other factors, does not give rise to the RF licensing obligation under this policy.

3.3. Licensing Commitments in AgGateway Submissions

At the time an AgGateway Member Submission [PROCESS, section 7] is made, all Submitters and any others who provide patent licenses associated with the submitted document must indicate whether or not each entity (Submitters and other licensors) will offer a license according to the AgGateway RF licensing requirements for any portion of the Submission that is subsequently incorporated in an AgGateway Digital Resource. The AgGateway Team may acknowledge the Submission if the answer to the licensing commitment is either affirmative or negative, and shall not acknowledge the Submission if no response is provided.

3.4. Note on Licensing Commitments for Invited Experts

Invited experts participate in Working Groups in their individual capacity. An invited expert is only obliged to license those claims over which s/he exercises control.

4. Exclusion From AgGateway RF Licensing Requirements

Under the following conditions, Working Group participants may exclude specifically identified and disclosed Essential Claims from the overall AgGateway RF licensing requirements:

4.1. Exclusion With Continued Participation

Essential Claims may be excluded from the AgGateway RF licensing requirements by a participant who seeks to remain in the Working Group only if that participant indicates no later than 10 days after the Working Group delivers any Proposed New Digital Resource to the Digital Resource Center [PROCESS, sections 3 and 4] its refusal to license Essential Claims and specifically discloses the Essential Claims that will not be licensed on AgGateway RF. A participant who excludes Essential Claims may continue to participate in the Working Group.

If any claims are made essential by the Digital Resource's publication [PROCESS, sections 3 and 4] as a result of subject matter not present or apparent in the latest Proposed New Digital Resource [PROCESS, sections 3 and 4], the participant may exclude these new Essential Claims, and only these claims, by using this exclusion procedure within 60 days after the Digital Resource's publication [PROCESS, sections 3 and 4]. After that point, no claims may be excluded.

4.2. Exclusion and Resignation From the Working Group

A participant may resign from the Working Group no later than 10 days after the Working Group delivers any Proposed New Digital Resource to the Digital Resource Center [PROCESS, sections 3 and 4] and be excused from all licensing commitments arising out of Working Group participation.

If a participant leaves the Working Group later than 10 days after the Working Group delivers any Proposed New Digital Resource to the Digital Resource Center [PROCESS, sections 3 and 4], that participant is only bound to license Essential Claims based on subject matter contained in the Proposed New Digital Resource delivered to the Digital Resource Center before the participant resigned from the Working Group. In addition, departing participants have 30 days after their actual resignation to exclude Essential Claims made essential by documents not referenced in the Call for Exclusion (see section 4.5) if:

1. such claims are essential to subject matter that is contained in the latest New Proposed Digital Resource delivered to the Digital Resource Center before the participant resigns, and

2. such subject matter is not present or apparent in the latest New Proposed Digital Resource delivered to the Digital Resource Center.

The participant follows the same procedures specified in this section 4 for excluding claims in issued patents, published applications, and unpublished applications. Participants resigning from a Working Group are still subject to all disclosure obligations described in section 6.

An AgGateway member’s membership termination shall result in the terminated organization/individual’s termination as a participant in all working groups. Such termination shall be treated as if the organization/individual resigned from the Working Group as it relates to this policy.

4.3. Joining an Already Established Working Group

[There are no special provisions for this situation. This section is present to keep the numbered outline in sync with the W3C Patent Policy, from which this document is derived.]

4.4. Exclusion Procedures for Pending, Unpublished Patent Applications

Exclusion of Essential Claims in pending, unpublished applications follows the procedures for exclusion of issued claims and claims in published applications in section 4.1 through 4.3.

Any exclusion of an Essential Claim in an unpublished application must provide either:

1. the text of the filed application; or

2. identification of the specific part(s) of the specification whose implementation makes the excluded claim essential.

If option 2 is chosen, the effect of the exclusion will be limited to the identified part(s) of the specification.

4.5. Exclusion Mechanics