Non-SDO Patent Statements and Commitments
Last Updated October 15, 2014.
This table collects publicly-available statements and commitments made with respect to patents and patent licensing outside of formal standards-development organizations (SDOs). Some of these statements and commitments relate to the use of patents essential to standards, but others relate to uses in open source software and other contexts. Because web links are sometimes fallible, we have also created PDF versions of each of these statements and commitments and are working to make those publicly-available in due course.
The examples in this table have been collected by volunteers, and we encourage you to send us additional examples of non-SDO patent statements and commitments that you know about. Send all contributions, comments and inquiries to Jorge Contreras at the University of Utah, jorge.contreras@law.utah.edu. Thank you!
For further information:
- Patent Pledge Resources
- More on PIJIP’s work work on standards-essential patents, FRAND licensing and standards litigation.
Company | Date | Doc Title | Relevant Patents/Standards | Commitment Description | Commitment Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Thinking Ape | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Agrari | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | DMARC specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Airbnb | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Alcatel-Lucent | 2008.04.14 | Wireless Industry Leaders commit to framework for LTE technology IPR licensing | Patents related to 3GPP LTE/SAE standards | "[T]he companies agree, subject to reciprocity, to reasonable, maximum aggregate royalty rates based on the value added by the technology in the end product and to flexible licensing arrangements according to the licensors' proportional share of all standard essential IPR for the relevant product category. Specifically, the companies support that a reasonable maximum aggregate royalty level for LTE essential IPR in handsets is a single-digit percentage of the sales price. For notebooks, with embedded LTE capabilities, the companies support a single-digit dollar amount as the maximum aggregate royalty level." | Maximum royalty rates |
| Anybots | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| AOL | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | DMARC specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Apple | 2011.11.11 | Letter to ETSI clarifying FRAND commitments | Patents covering ETSI standards including LTE, UMTS, EDGE, GPRS, GSM | With respect to FRAND-committed patents, Apple will charge an appropriate, proportional royalty, using a royalty base common in the industry, and will not seek injunctions | Clarification; Non-injunction; Royalty Levels |
| Apple | 2012.13.02 | Commitment to DOJ to honor Novell's OIN commitments | 882 patents acquired by CPTN from Novell in 2010 | From DOJ Press Release 2/13/12: "Apple also proposes to acquire patents held by CPTN Holdings LLC, formerly owned by Novell, following CPTN’s acquisition in April 2011 of those patents on behalf of Apple, Oracle Corporation and EMC Corporation. As a member of the Open Invention Network (OIN), Novell committed to cross-license its patents on a royalty-free basis for use in the open source “Linux system,” a defined term in the OIN. ... With respect to Apple/Novell, the division concluded that the acquisition of the patents from CPTN, formerly owned by Novell, is unlikely to harm competition. While the patents Apple would acquire are important to the open source community and to Linux-based software in particular, the OIN, to which Novell belonged, requires its participating patent holders to offer a perpetual, royalty-free license for use in the “Linux-system.” The division investigated whether the change in ownership would permit Apple to avoid OIN commitments and seek royalties from Linux users. The division concluded it would not, a conclusion made easier by Apple’s commitment to honor Novell’s OIN licensing commitments | RAND-z |
| BakedCode | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Bank of America | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | DMARC specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Binpress | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Blackboard | 2010.03.13 | The Blackboard Patent Pledge | Patents: 6,988,138; 7,493,396; 7,558,853; Pending patent applications: 12/470,739; 10/443,149; 10/643,075; 10/653,074; 11/142,965; 10/373,924; 10/918,016 | Non-assertion promise applying only to "Open Source Software or Home-Grown systems to the extent that such Open Source Software or Home-Grown Systems are not bundled with proprietary software;" subject to a defensive termination clause | Non-assertion |
| Blackboard | 2007.02.01 | Blackboard Patent Pledge | Patent 6,988,138; Pending patent applications: 11/251,110; 10/443,149; 10/643,075; 10/653,074; 11/142,965; 10/373,924; 10/918,016 | Non-assertion promise applying only to "Open Source Software or Home-Grown systems to the extent that such Open Source Software or Home-Grown Systems are not bundled with proprietary software" | Non-assertion |
| Bump | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| CANARIE | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | Simple Identity Cloud Management: Core Schema 1.0 Draft specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| CarWoo | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Cisco | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | Simple Identity Cloud Management: Core Schema 1.0 Draft specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Cisco Systems | 2013.10.18 | Statement by Mark Chandler, General Counsel, in Forbes article | All patents | "Cisco in the past sold a small number of patents to two NPEs But we wont do it again | No NPE Transfers |
| Citizen Agency | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | JSON Activity Streams 1.0 specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Clearing House (The) | 2014.02.20 | TCH Pledges to Support USPTO on Patents | Prior art | "The Clearing House also pledges to coordinate with the USPTO to establish a vehicle, such as an existing commercial database, to collect and provide patent examiners with access to non-patent materials describing our financial infrastructure." | Prior art |
| Cloudmark | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | DMARC specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Comcast | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | DMARC specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Computer Associates, International | 2005.09 | Computer Associates International, Inc.'s Statement of Non-Assertion of Named Patents Against OSS | Patents 5,414,809; 6,282,544; 6,143,537; 5,734,796; 6,850,952; 6,907,412; 6,212,509; 5,325,361; 6,704, 806; 5,796,942; 5,958, 015; 6,336,140; 6,754,713; 6,493,811 | Non-assertion promise; subject to termination against any party who files a lawsuit asserting patents or other intellectual property rights against Open Source Software. | Non-assertion |
| Consumer & Merchant Awareness Fndn (CMAF) | ? | About CMAF - Intellectual Property: The '894 Patent and Mission Statement | US Pat 6,182,894 | "CMAF is committed to using the '894 Patent to further the security of consumer and merchant payment transactions." "In a manner consistent with its charitable purposes, the Foundation will conduct activities intended to accomplish the following goals: ... Refrain from actions that will result in enforcement of intellectual property against issuers, acquirers, merchants or consumers related to activity in the retail financial services and payments areas" | Non-assertion |
| Conversant Intellectual Property Management (f/k/a Mosaid Technologies) | 2013.11.14 | Patent Licensing Principles | All patents | Various principles relating to ethical and responsible licensing of patents including: disclosing the patent's true, direct ownership; seeking to license only "quality" patents that its investigation indicates to be valid, enforceable and likely to be used by the potential licensee; and refraining from threatening start-ups and small end users against which the licensor does not directly compete. The potential licensee should likewise act in an ethical and good faith manner. | Good Citizenship - Licensing and litigation practices |
| DailyBooth | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Disgus | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| DotCloud | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Dropbox | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Earbits | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| eCert | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | DMARC specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Environmental Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI) | 2010.09.07 | Open Web Foundation Agreement 0.9 (OWFa 0.9) | GeoServices REST Specification | Non-assertion agreement that applies "so long as all required portions of the Specification are implemented;" RAND-Z license; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Ericsson | 2002.11.06 | Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens, and Japanese manufacturers reach a mutual understanding to support modest royalty rates for the W-CDMA technology worldwide | Essential patents for W-CDMA | "Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens today reached a mutual understanding to introduce licensing arrangements whereby essential patents for W-CDMA are licensed at rates that are proportional to the number of essential patents owned by each company. The intention is to set a benchmark for all patent holders of the W-CDMA technology to achieve fair and reasonable royalty rates. . . . The above companies also own a significant number of the essential patents applicable to the CDMA2000 standard. These patents will be licensed at fair and reasonable terms. As essential patent holders, Japanese manufacturers Fujitsu, Matsushita Communication Industrial (Panasonic), Mitsubishi Electric, NEC and Sony Corporation have also expressed their willingness to co-operate with such arrangements." | Royalty levels; fair and reasonable terms |
| Ericsson | 2008.04.14 | Wireless Industry Leaders commit to framework for LTE technology IPR licensing | Patents related to 3GPP LTE/SAE standards | "[T]he companies agree, subject to reciprocity, to reasonable, maximum aggregate royalty rates based on the value added by the technology in the end product and to flexible licensing arrangements according to the licensors' proportional share of all standard essential IPR for the relevant product category. Specifically, the companies support that a reasonable maximum aggregate royalty level for LTE essential IPR in handsets is a single-digit percentage of the sales price. For notebooks, with embedded LTE capabilities, the companies support a single-digit dollar amount as the maximum aggregate royalty level." | Maximum royalty rates |
| Ericsson | 2012.11.27 | Ericsson takes action for fair and reasonable patent licensing | Ericsson's SEPs | "Ericsson is committed to licensing its standard-essential patents on Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) terms for the benefit of the industry. It believes that FRAND licensing strikes the appropriate balance between incentivizing companies to contribute technology to open standards and maintaining the overall royalty rates at a reasonable level to allow new entrants access to the market. | FRAND |
| Ericsson | 2012.01.12 | Ericsson strengthens focus on IPR licensing | Ericsson's SEPs | "Ericsson complies with, and endorses, terms that are fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory for its patent licensing programs, which make standard-essential patents widely available. This makes Ericsson the partner of choice for new entrants to the market, as well as established companies seeking to license technology at fair and commercially viable rates." | RAND |
| 2010.04.20 | Open Web Foundation Agreement 0.9 (OWFa 0.9) | Open graph protocol | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material. The "related entity" clause terminates terminates reciprocal rights apparently permitting the purported licensee to retailiate against the licensor's customers. | Non-assertion / RAND-Z | |
| 2011.04.07 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | Specifications: AMD Motherboard Hardware v1.0; Data Center v.1.0; Intel Motherboard Hardware v1.0; Server Chassis and Triplet Hardware v1.0 | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material. The "related entity" clause terminates terminates reciprocal rights apparently permitting the purported licensee to retailiate against the licensor's customers. | Non-assertion / RAND-Z | |
| N/A | Open Web Foundation Agreement 0.9 (OWFa 0.9) | Oauth Web Resource Authorization Profiles (Oauth WRAP) Version 0.9.7.2 | Non-assertion agreement that applies "so long as all required portions of the Specification are implemented;" RAND-Z license; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z | |
| 2011.04.07 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | Specification for Open Compute Project Battery Cabinet Hardware v.1.0 | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z | |
| 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | DMARC specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z | |
| 2011.04.07 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | Specification for Open Compute Project 450W Power Supply Hardware v. 1.0 | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z | |
| Fidelity | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | DMARC specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Freshplum | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Fujitsu | 2002.11.06 | Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens, and Japanese manufacturers reach a mutual understanding to support modest royalty rates for the W-CDMA technology worldwide | Essential patents for W-CDMA | "Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens today reached a mutual understanding to introduce licensing arrangements whereby essential patents for W-CDMA are licensed at rates that are proportional to the number of essential patents owned by each company. The intention is to set a benchmark for all patent holders of the W-CDMA technology to achieve fair and reasonable royalty rates. . . . The above companies also own a significant number of the essential patents applicable to the CDMA2000 standard. These patents will be licensed at fair and reasonable terms. As essential patent holders, Japanese manufacturers Fujitsu, Matsushita Communication Industrial (Panasonic), Mitsubishi Electric, NEC and Sony Corporation have also expressed their willingness to co-operate with such arrangements." | Royalty levels; fair and reasonable terms |
| Gatespace Telematics | 2006.07.26 | Leading Tech Companies United to Support OSGi Technology | Necessary patents for OSGi Service Platform, Release 4 Specifications | Non-assertion agreement; subject to termination if the the implementer asserts IP rights against any implementation of the specification | Non-assertion |
| 2013.03.28 - 10 patents; 2013.08.13 - 79 patents; 2014.08.26 - 152 patents | Open Patent Non-Assertion Pledge | Full list of pledged patents available at http://www.google.com/patents/opnpledge/patents/, and here, as a PDF | Google promises to each person or entity that develops, distributes or uses Free or Open Source Software (a “Pledge Recipient”) that Google will not bring a lawsuit or other legal proceeding against a Pledge Recipient for patent infringement under any Pledged Patents based on the Pledge Recipient’s (i) development, manufacture, use, sale, offer for sale, lease, license, exportation, importation or distribution of any Free or Open Source Software, or (ii) internal-only use of Free or Open Source Software, either as obtained by Pledge Recipient or as modified by Pledge Recipient, in standalone form or combined with hardware or with any other software (“Internal-Only Use”). The preceding Pledge does not apply to any infringement of the Pledged Patents by hardware or by software that is not Free or Open Source Software, or by Free or Open Source Software combined with special purpose hardware or with software that is not Free or Open Source Software (except Internal-Only Use). | Non-Assertion | |
| 2012.02.08 | Letter to IEEE clarifying FRAND commitments | Motorola Mobility patents subject to FRAND commitments | Maximum royalty (2.25% of net product selling price); best efforts to ensure that transferees abide by its FRAND commitments; only require a grant-back of the licensees patents that are essential to the same standard; will not seek an injunction on the basis of standards-essential patents, during a reasonable negotiation period and if the other party makes a similar commitment | Clarification; Royalty Max; Transferee Commitment; Non-injunction | |
| Greplin | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Grooveshark | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Hackruiter | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Heyzap | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Hipmunk | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Hyperink | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| iBiquity | 2005.04.13 | Commitment to Adhere to NRSC's patent policy | iBiquity patents covering NRSC-5 HD radio standard (transmission and receivers), HD Radio software object code, HDC codec object code | This letter is intended to detail iBiquity’s commitments to the NRSC concerning licensing of iBiquity intellectual property. All of these commitments are predicated on the NRSC’s prior adoption of the IBOC standard designated NRSC-5… (1) Consistent with the NRSC patent policy, iBiquity commits to license on reasonable terms and conditions that are demonstrably free of any unfair discrimination all patents essential for someone skilled in the art to manufacture NRSC-5 compliant transmission devices. … (2) iBiquity notes that although its receiver patents are not necessary to implement NRSC-5, it is and will continue to be iBiquity’s practice to license its receiver patents on reasonable terms and conditions that are demonstrably free of any unfair discrimination… (4) iBiquity has committed to license on reasonable terms and conditions that are demonstrably free of any unfair discrimination the object code to the HD Radio system without the HDC codec for NRSC-5 compliant implementations… (5) iBiquity also has committed to license on reasonable terms and conditions that are demonstrably free of any unfair discrimination the object code to the HDC codec separately from the remainder of the HDC Radio software implementation but subject to the requirement that it be used in independent HBOC implementations compliant with NRSC-5 | FRAND |
| IBM | 2005.10.24 | IBM Statement of Support of Open Standards-Based Healthcare Industry and Education Industry Standard | 27 standard specifications related to web services, electronic forms, or open document formats | Non-assertion promise applying "only to the extent [the covered standards] are implemented in the Healthcare Industry or Education Industry in accordance with" the standards; subject to termination against parties asserting patents or IPR against other implementers of the standard | Non-assertion |
| IBM | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | JSON Activity Streams 1.0 specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| IBM | 2005.01.11 | IBM Statement of Non-Assertion of Named Patents Against OSS | 500 IBM patents related to interfacing; storage management; multi-processing; data processing programming; human interfacing; database and data handling; image processing and video technology; human language processing; compression, encryption, and access control; software development and object technology; Internet and e-commerce; networking and network management; etc. | Non-assertion promise applying only for the benefit of open source software (i.e., "any computer software program whose source code is published and available for inspection and use by anyone, and is made available under a license agreement that permits recipients to copy, modify and distribute the program's source code without payment of fees or royalties."); subject to termination against any party "who files a lawsuit asserting patents or other intellectual property rights against Open Source Software." | Non-assertion |
| IBM | 2006.07.26 | Leading Tech Companies United to Support OSGi Technology | Necessary patents for OSGi Service Platform, Release 4 Specifications | Non-assertion agreement; subject to termination if the the implementer asserts IP rights against any implementation of the specification | Non-assertion |
| IBM | 2006.09.26 | IBM Establishes Worldwide Patent Policy to Promote Innovation: Pledges Thousands of Hours to Community Review of Patent Applications; Reduction in Business Method Patents | All IBM patents | "IBM will make its patent applications open to community review. . . . IBM will promptly and publicly record, in its name, assignment of all patents and published patent applications it owns." (There is no indication whether IBM did or did not follow through on this pledge). | Recordation of transfers |
| IBM | 2006.09.26 | IBM Establishes Worldwide Patent Policy to Promote Innovation: Pledges Thousands of Hours to Community Review of Patent Applications; Reduction in Business Method Patents | 100+ IBM business method patents | "IBM will make available over 100 of its business-method patents -- about 50 percent of IBM's total business method patents -- to the public, where they can be used openly to stimulate innovation. IBM will focus future business method filings on those with substantial technical content, and as a result, expects to substantially reduce its filing of business method patents." There is no indication whether IBM followed through on this pledge. | Availability of licenses; business method patent prosecution |
| IBM | 2007.07.13 | Interoperability Specifications Pledge | IBM software patents covering 150+ specifications | Non-assertion promise; subject to termination if the the implementer asserts claims against any implementation of the specifications | Non-assertion |
| InboxQ | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Intel | N/A | Intel Patent Licensing Practices for Industry Standards | Standards-essential patents | "Intel understands FRAND commitments have at least the following implications: A commitment to license every user or implementer of the relevant standard, and such license may not be conditioned on licensing patents that are not essential for that standard; Injunctions and other exclusionary remedies should not be available on FRAND committed patents except in limited circumstances;A FRAND royalty should reflect a number of factors including a royalty base that does not exceed the cost of the smallest unit that practices the standard, the technical value of the patented feature compared to alternatives available during the standard-setting process, and the overall royalty that could reasonably be charged for all patents essential to the standard; and FRAND commitments follow the transfer of a patent to subsequent owners." | Clarification / No injunctions / Transferee commitment / Royalty base |
| Interviewstreet | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Jive Software | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Justin.tv | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| KangarooBox | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | DMARC specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z | |
| Loopt | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 2006 | Non-Assert for Tuschl I siRNA patent applications | RNA Sequence-Specific Mediators Of RNA Interference by David P. Bartel, Phillip A. Sharp, Thomas Tuschl and Phillip D. Zamore: US Serial Nos. 09/821,832, Filed March 30, 2001 and 10/255,568, Filed September 26, 2002, and foreign counterparts | In order to facilitate widespread distribution of an important class of research reagents, [the Patent Owners] now announce that they will not assert the patents listed below against companies that sell or use DNA vectors which induce production of siRNA endogenously, provided that such vectors are only used for research purposes, and provided that the RNA that mediates RNA interference is not isolated from the transformed cells. The Patent Owners intend to enforce the patents listed below against any use not specifically listed above. | Non-assertion |
| Max Planck Gesellschaft | 2006 | Non-Assert for Tuschl II siRNA patent applications | European Serial Number EP 00126325 entitled "RNA Interference Mediating Small RNA Molecules" by Thomas Tuschl, Sayda Elbashir and Winfried Lendeckel, filed on December 1, 2000 and Patent Convention Treaty Serial No. PCT/EP01/13968 entitled “RNA Interference Mediating Small RNA Molecules” filed on November 29, 2001, and all national applications derived from this PCT-application within the scope of claims 1-29 (corresponding to the subject matter of the above EP-application) | In order to facilitate widespread distribution of an important class of research reagents, Max Planck Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Wissenschaften e.V. (“MPG”) announces that it will not assert the patents listed below against companies that sell or use DNA vectors which induce production of siRNA endogenously, provided that such vectors are only used for research purposes, and provided that the RNA that mediates RNA interference is not isolated from the transformed cells. The MPG intends to enforce the patents listed below against any use not specifically listed above | Non-assertion |
| Max Planck Gesellschaft | 2006 | Non-Assert for Tuschl I siRNA patent applications | RNA Sequence-Specific Mediators Of RNA Interference by David P. Bartel, Phillip A. Sharp, Thomas Tuschl and Phillip D. Zamore: US Serial Nos. 09/821,832, Filed March 30, 2001 and 10/255,568, Filed September 26, 2002, and foreign counterparts | In order to facilitate widespread distribution of an important class of research reagents, [the Patent Owners] now announce that they will not assert the patents listed below against companies that sell or use DNA vectors which induce production of siRNA endogenously, provided that such vectors are only used for research purposes, and provided that the RNA that mediates RNA interference is not isolated from the transformed cells. The Patent Owners intend to enforce the patents listed below against any use not specifically listed above. | Non-assertion |
| Microsoft | 2007.09.12 | Microsoft Community Promise | Various specifications for communications protocols, SQL, security, etc. (80+ specifications listed) | Non-assertion agreement applying only "to the extent [the implementation] conforms to one of the Covered Specifications, and is compliant with all of the required parts of the mandatory provisions of that specification."and subject to a defensive suspension clause;" includes a defensive suspension clause | Non-assertion |
| Microsoft | N/A | Microsoft Specifications: Open Web Foundation Agreement | Specifications: Oauth WRAP version 0.9, OpenService Format Specification version 0.8, Simple Web Tokens version 0.9, Web Slice Format Specification version 0.9, XML Search Suggestions Format Specification as of 11/11/2009, | "Microsoft makes the following specifications available under an Open Web Foundation Agreement. Specifications Under OWFa 0.9: OAuth WRAP version 0.9, OpenService Format Specification version 0.8, Simple Web Tokens version 0.9, Web Slice Format Specification version 0.9, XML Search Suggestions Format Specification as of 11/11/2009. Specifications Under OWFa 1.0 TypeScript Language Specification Version 0.8" | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Microsoft | 2006.07.19 | Speech and Questions and Answers by Brad Smith, General Counsel of Microsoft. | Microsoft patents on operating system inventions | "We will make generally available for licensing all of the patents that we have in the operating system space, save those that differentiate our user interface, the appearance of our software on the screen from competing software. This has been a traditional industry practice, and it gives us I think a good opportunity to learn from the positive experiences of others and assure people that our patents are open and available for licensing. " | Availability of licenses |
| Microsoft | 2003.12.03 | Standards Licensing | Microsoft SEPs for "Business Process Execution Language for Web ServicesVersion 1.1," "Sender ID for E-Mail Specification," "Compound File Binary File Format (Structured Storage Version 3)," and "Sockets Direct Protocol for InfiniBand Trade Association Specification Version 1.1" | Royalty-free license; subject to a grant back for implementations of the same standard; subject to a defensive suspension clause | Royalty-free |
| Microsoft | 2008.02.12 | Interoperability Principles - Principle II: Support for Standards | Microsoft's "high volume products" | "Microsoft commits to supporting relevant standards in its high-volume products and doing so in a way that promotes interoperability. . . Microsoft will work with other major implementers of the standard toward achieving robust, consistent, and interoperable implementation across a broad range of widely deployed products. To that same end, Microsoft will document for the development community how it supports such standards and how it is working towards broad compatibility and interoperability. . . . Microsoft will also make available a list of any of its patents that cover any extensions, and will make available patent licenses on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms." | RAND |
| Microsoft | 2008.02.12 | Interoperability Principles - Principle III | Data Portability | "Once customers use one software product to store their data, they should be able to subsequently access that data in a form that permits its use in other software products. Microsoft commits to designing its high-volume products and providing documentation to enable such data portability. . . . [A]ccess to specifications regarding Open Formats that are not standardized will be available on Microsoft websites, royalty-free, and with no need to obtain a license. Patents, if any apply, will be made available for licensing on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms" | Royalty-free / RAND |
| Microsoft | 2009.12.16 | Public Undertaking by Microsoft | Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for operating system | "Microsoft will provide third-party security vendors with access to [operating system] APIs pursuant to a royalty-free license and on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms." | RAND-Z |
| Microsoft | N/A | Open Web Foundation Agreement 0.9 (OWFa 0.9) | Specifications: Oauth WRAP version 0.9, OpenService Format Specification version 0.8, Simple Web Tokens version 0.9, Web Slice Format Specification version 0.9, XML Search Suggestions Format Specification as of 11/11/2009, TypeScript Language Specification Version 0.8 | Non-assertion agreement that applies "so long as all required portions of the Specification are implemented;" RAND-Z license; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Microsoft | 2008.02.12 | Interoperability Principles - Principle I: Open Connections to Microsoft Products | Microsoft's "high volume products" | "Some of Microsoft Open Protocols are covered by patents. Microsoft will indicate on its website which protocols are covered by Microsoft patents and will license all of these patents on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, at low royalty rates. To assist developers in clearly understanding whether or not Microsoft patents may apply to any of the protocols, Microsoft will make available a list of the specific Microsoft patents and patent applications that cover each protocol. We will make this list available once for each release of a high-volume product that includes Open Protocols. Microsoft will not assert patents on any Open Protocol unless those patents appear on that list. Third parties do not need licenses to any Microsoft patents to call these Open APIs." | RAND; Royalty levels; Non-assertion |
| Microsoft | 2005.11 | Options for Implementers of Office Open XML | Microsoft Office 2003 XML Reference Schemas | Non-assertion agreement; subject to a defensive suspension clause | Non-assertion |
| Microsoft | 2014.02.20 | Leading the way on patent transparency | Prior art | "Today, we pledge to complete the beta testing, implement the USPTO’s feedback and make the service available to all patent examiners by May 2014. We will continue to add to the database with the goal of providing examiners access to more than 10 million archived Microsoft technical documents." | Prior art |
| Microsoft | 2012.02.08 | Microsoft's Support for Industry Standards | Microsoft's SEPs | ""Microsoft will always adhere to the promises it has made to standards organizations to make its standard essential patents available on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms. This means that Microsoft will not seek an injunction or exclusion order against any firm on the basis of those essential patents. This also means that Microsoft will make those essential patents available for license to other firms without requiring that those firms license their patents back to Microsoft, except for any patents they have that are essential to the same industry standard. Microsoft will not transfer those standard essential patents to any other firm unless that firm agrees to adhere to [this commitment]." See additional discussion at http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_on_the_issues/archive/2012/02/08/microsoft-s-support-for-industry-standards.aspx | FRAND; Non- injunction; Transferee commitment |
| Microsoft | N/A | The Microsoft Patent Pledges for Implementations of Microsoft Communications Protocol Program Technical Specifications: Patent Pledge for Open Source Developers | Patents for MCPP technical specifications, including updates and corrections, for protocols (including extensions to industry-standard or other published protocols) that are used by Windows Server operating systems to interoperate with Windows client operating systems (from Windows 2000 Professional up to and including Windows 8) | Non-assertion promise; only applies to the creation of software code that is "freely distributed, modified, or copied pursuant to an open source license and is not commercially distributed by its participants" | Non-assertion |
| Microsoft | N/A | The Microsoft Patent Pledges for Implementations of Microsoft Communications Protocol Program Technical Specifications: Patent Pledge Regarding Patent Disclosure | Patents for MCPP technical specifications, including updates and corrections, for protocols (including extensions to industry-standard or other published protocols) that are used by Windows Server operating systems to interoperate with Windows client operating systems (from Windows 2000 Professional up to and including Windows 8) | Non-assertion promise; only covers patents that (1) are not listed in the current list of patents generated for the Microsoft Communications Protocol Program Protocols ("MCPP-Legacy") via the "Patents" mapping tool ("MCPP-Legacy Patent Map") posted on Microsoft's patents webpage; (2) issue from any of the pending patent applications contained in the MCPP-Legacy Patent Map; (3) issue from an application with a priority date that is after the Effective Date of the relevant MCPP-Legacy Patent Map ("New Application"), provided that Microsoft has posted an updated version of the MCPP Patent Map that contains the New Application to the MCPP web site no later than 45 days after the date the New Application has been filed; or (4) are added to the MCPP-Legacy Patent Map following an update to the MCPP technical specifications that causes such patent or patent application to read upon the MCPP technical specifications, provided Microsoft has updated the MCPP-Legacy Patent Map that contains such patent or patent application on the "Patents" web page no later than 45 days after the date the updated MCPP technical specifications are made available to MCPP licensees | Non-assertion |
| Microsoft | 2003.12.03 | Microsoft's FAT charges | Patents related to Microsoft's FAT file system | "Microsoft offers a commercially reasonable, nonexclusive license so that other companies can use the FAT file system in their own products. Currently, Microsoft offers two specific types of licenses: A license for removable solid state media manufacturers to preformat the media, such as compact flash memory cards, to the Microsoft FAT file system format, and to preload data onto such preformatted media using the Microsoft FAT file system format. Pricing for this license is US$0.25 per unit with a cap on total royalties of $250,000 per manufacturer. A license for manufacturers of certain consumer electronics devices. Pricing for this license is US$0.25 per unit for each of the following types of devices that use removable solid state media to store data: portable digital still cameras; portable digital video cameras; portable digital still/video cameras; portable digital audio players; portable digital video players; portable digital audio/video players; multifunction printers; electronic photo frames; electronic musical instruments; and standard televisions. Pricing for this license is US$0.25 per unit with a cap on total royalties of $250,000 per licensee. Pricing for other device types can be negotiated with Microsoft." | Commercially reasonable terms; Royalty levels |
| Microsoft | N/A | Open Web Foundation Agreement 0.9 (OWFa 0.9) | Oauth Web Resource Authorization Profiles (Oauth WRAP) Version 0.9.7.2 | Non-assertion agreement that applies "so long as all required portions of the Specification are implemented;" RAND-Z license; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Microsoft | N/A | Open Web Foundation Agreement 1.0 (OWFa 1.0) (Patents and Copyright Grants) | TypeScript Language Specification Version 0.8 | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Microsoft | 2006.07 | Windows Principles: 12 tenets to promote competition | Microsoft patents on operating system inventions other than differentiating patents for OS appearance | "Microsoft will generally license patents on its operating system inventions (other than those that differentiate the appearance of Microsofts products) on fair and reasonable terms so long as licensees respect Microsofts intellectual property rights. . . . Microsoft is committed to supporting a wide range of industry standards in Windows that developers can use to build interoperable products. Microsoft is committed to contributing to industry standard bodies as well as working to establish standards via ad hoc relationships with others in the industry." | FRAND |
| Microsoft | 2006.09.12 | Open Specification Promise | Various specifications for web services, virtualization, security, open XML and open document file formats, other office file formats, windows compound formats, graphics formats, Microsoft computer languages, robotics, synchronization, windows rally technologies, published protocols, SQL (150+ specifications listed) | Non-assertion agreement covering only "those claims of Microsoft-owned or Microsoft-controlled patents that are necessary to implement only the required portions of the Covered Specification that are described in detail and not merely referenced in such Specification;" includes a defensive suspension clause | Non-assertion |
| Microsoft | 2003.12.03 | Microsoft Announces Expanded Access To Extensive Intellectual Property Portfolio | Patents related to Microsoft's ClearType technology and file allocation table (FAT) file system | "To mark Microsoft's commitment to enable greater access to its IP, the company announced the availability of two new licensing offerings: one for ClearType technology and the other for Microsoft's FAT file system. These offerings will be made available under fair and reasonable terms." | Fair and reasonable terms |
| Microsoft | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | DMARC specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Mitsubishi Electric | 2002.11.06 | Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens, and Japanese manufacturers reach a mutual understanding to support modest royalty rates for the W-CDMA technology worldwide | Essential patents for W-CDMA | "Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens today reached a mutual understanding to introduce licensing arrangements whereby essential patents for W-CDMA are licensed at rates that are proportional to the number of essential patents owned by each company. The intention is to set a benchmark for all patent holders of the W-CDMA technology to achieve fair and reasonable royalty rates. . . . The above companies also own a significant number of the essential patents applicable to the CDMA2000 standard. These patents will be licensed at fair and reasonable terms. As essential patent holders, Japanese manufacturers Fujitsu, Matsushita Communication Industrial (Panasonic), Mitsubishi Electric, NEC and Sony Corporation have also expressed their willingness to co-operate with such arrangements." | Royalty levels; fair and reasonable terms |
| MogoTix | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Monsanto | No date | Monsanto's Commitment: Farmers and Patents | Patents covering seeds | "X. It has never been, nor will it be Monsanto policy to exercise its patent rights where trace amounts of our patented seed or traits are present in farmer's fields as a result of inadvertent means." | Non-assertion |
| Mozilla | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | JSON Activity Streams 1.0 specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Myriad Genetics | N/A | Myriad’s Pledge to Our Patients and the Research Community | Genetic diagnostic patents | "Myriad's Pledge: Myriad has supported and continues to support research institutions in the advancement of scientific and technological knowledge, and we will not impede non-commercial, academic research that uses patented technology licensed or owned by us… Myriad will continue its practice of not interfering with laboratories conducting genetic testing on patients for the purpose of confirming a test result provided by Myriad.. Myriad will continue to offer financial assistance programs and free testing to help patients with the greatest need." | Non-assertion |
| NEC | 2002.11.06 | Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens, and Japanese manufacturers reach a mutual understanding to support modest royalty rates for the W-CDMA technology worldwide | Essential patents for W-CDMA | "Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens today reached a mutual understanding to introduce licensing arrangements whereby essential patents for W-CDMA are licensed at rates that are proportional to the number of essential patents owned by each company. The intention is to set a benchmark for all patent holders of the W-CDMA technology to achieve fair and reasonable royalty rates. . . . The above companies also own a significant number of the essential patents applicable to the CDMA2000 standard. These patents will be licensed at fair and reasonable terms. As essential patent holders, Japanese manufacturers Fujitsu, Matsushita Communication Industrial (Panasonic), Mitsubishi Electric, NEC and Sony Corporation have also expressed their willingness to co-operate with such arrangements." | Royalty levels; fair and reasonable terms |
| NEC | 2008.04.14 | Wireless Industry Leaders commit to framework for LTE technology IPR licensing | Patents related to 3GPP LTE/SAE standards | "[T]he companies agree, subject to reciprocity, to reasonable, maximum aggregate royalty rates based on the value added by the technology in the end product and to flexible licensing arrangements according to the licensors' proportional share of all standard essential IPR for the relevant product category. Specifically, the companies support that a reasonable maximum aggregate royalty level for LTE essential IPR in handsets is a single-digit percentage of the sales price. For notebooks, with embedded LTE capabilities, the companies support a single-digit dollar amount as the maximum aggregate royalty level." | Maximum royalty rates |
| NextWave Wireless | 2008.04.14 | Wireless Industry Leaders commit to framework for LTE technology IPR licensing | Patents related to 3GPP LTE/SAE standards | "[T]he companies agree, subject to reciprocity, to reasonable, maximum aggregate royalty rates based on the value added by the technology in the end product and to flexible licensing arrangements according to the licensors' proportional share of all standard essential IPR for the relevant product category. Specifically, the companies support that a reasonable maximum aggregate royalty level for LTE essential IPR in handsets is a single-digit percentage of the sales price. For notebooks, with embedded LTE capabilities, the companies support a single-digit dollar amount as the maximum aggregate royalty level." | Maximum royalty rates |
| Nokia | 2006.07.26 | Leading Tech Companies United to Support OSGi Technology | Necessary patents for OSGi Service Platform, Release 4 Specifications | Non-assertion agreement; subject to termination if the the implementer asserts IP rights against any implementation of the specification | Non-assertion |
| Nokia | 2002.05.08 | Nokia advocates industry-wide commitment to 5% cumulative IPR royalty for WCDMA | Nokia's SEPs for WCDMA technology | "Highlighting the fact that WCDMA technology has been adopted by the vast majority of mobile operators worldwide and is fast emerging as the global standard of choice for 3G, Nokia is advocating an industry-wide commitment that royalty rates for the 3G technology should not exceed 5% cumulatively. Under this proposal no manufacturer should pay more than 5% royalties covering all essential WCDMA patents from all patent holders. . . . Nokia is committed to licensing its essential patents under fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms, subject to reciprocity." | Maximum royalty rates / FRAND |
| Nokia | 2005.05.25 | Legally Binding Commitment Not to Assert Nokia Patents against the Linux Kernel | Patents related to Linux Kernel | Non-assertion pledge against any Linux Kernel existing as of May 25, 2005; subject to termination against any Linux Kernel. Press Release at: http://press.nokia.com/2005/05/25/nokia-announces-patent-support-to-the-linux-kernel/ | Non-assertion |
| Nokia | 2008.04.14 | Wireless Industry Leaders commit to framework for LTE technology IPR licensing | Patents related to 3GPP LTE/SAE standards | "[T]he companies agree, subject to reciprocity, to reasonable, maximum aggregate royalty rates based on the value added by the technology in the end product and to flexible licensing arrangements according to the licensors' proportional share of all standard essential IPR for the relevant product category. Specifically, the companies support that a reasonable maximum aggregate royalty level for LTE essential IPR in handsets is a single-digit percentage of the sales price. For notebooks, with embedded LTE capabilities, the companies support a single-digit dollar amount as the maximum aggregate royalty level." | Maximum royalty rates |
| Nokia | 2010 | Nokia licensing policy on Long Term Evolution and Service Architecture Evolution essential patents | Nokia's SEPs for wireless communication technologies | "Subject to reciprocity, Nokia will license its LTE standards-essential IPR at prices that are consistent with the principle of proportionality and current best understanding of Nokias share of all LTE standards-essential IPR. Currently, we expect Nokias rate for devices that deploy LTE as the only wireless communication standard to be in a range of 1.5 percent from the sales price of an end-user device. However. a significant use of LTE is expected to be in connection with other wireless communication standards, such as GSM, UMTS and/or CDMA. When multiple wireless standards are used in the same end product, Nokia will follow similar principles in setting the royalty rate for Nokia patents essential to other standards. To avoid unfavorable effects of royalty stacking, Nokia will not charge royalties higher than 2.0 percent from the sales price of an end-user device for IPR that is essential to wireless communication standards irrespective of the number of wireless standards deployed in such a device." | Maximum royalty rates |
| Nokia | 2002.11.06 | Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens, and Japanese manufacturers reach a mutual understanding to support modest royalty rates for the W-CDMA technology worldwide | Essential patents for W-CDMA | "Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens today reached a mutual understanding to introduce licensing arrangements whereby essential patents for W-CDMA are licensed at rates that are proportional to the number of essential patents owned by each company. The intention is to set a benchmark for all patent holders of the W-CDMA technology to achieve fair and reasonable royalty rates. . . . The above companies also own a significant number of the essential patents applicable to the CDMA2000 standard. These patents will be licensed at fair and reasonable terms. As essential patent holders, Japanese manufacturers Fujitsu, Matsushita Communication Industrial (Panasonic), Mitsubishi Electric, NEC and Sony Corporation have also expressed their willingness to co-operate with such arrangements." | Royalty levels; fair and reasonable terms |
| Nokia Siemens Networks | 2008.04.14 | Wireless Industry Leaders commit to framework for LTE technology IPR licensing | Patents related to 3GPP LTE/SAE standards | "[T]he companies agree, subject to reciprocity, to reasonable, maximum aggregate royalty rates based on the value added by the technology in the end product and to flexible licensing arrangements according to the licensors' proportional share of all standard essential IPR for the relevant product category. Specifically, the companies support that a reasonable maximum aggregate royalty level for LTE essential IPR in handsets is a single-digit percentage of the sales price. For notebooks, with embedded LTE capabilities, the companies support a single-digit dollar amount as the maximum aggregate royalty level." | Maximum royalty rates |
| Novell | 2004.10.12 | Patent Policy: Novell's Statement on Patents and Open Source Software | Novell's patents related to the Linux kernel or open source programs | "We believe that customers want and need freedom of choice in making decisions about technology solutions. Those considering Novell offerings, whether proprietary or open source, should be able to make their purchasing decisions based on technical merits, security, quality of service and value, not the threat of litigation. Novell intends to continue to compete based on such criteria. . . . Consistent with this belief, Novell will use its patent portfolio to protect itself against claims made against the Linux kernel or open source programs included in Novell's offerings, as dictated by the actions of others." | General patent policy statement |
| NTT DoCoMo | 2002.11.06 | Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens, and Japanese manufacturers reach a mutual understanding to support modest royalty rates for the W-CDMA technology worldwide | Essential patents for W-CDMA | "Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens today reached a mutual understanding to introduce licensing arrangements whereby essential patents for W-CDMA are licensed at rates that are proportional to the number of essential patents owned by each company. The intention is to set a benchmark for all patent holders of the W-CDMA technology to achieve fair and reasonable royalty rates. . . . The above companies also own a significant number of the essential patents applicable to the CDMA2000 standard. These patents will be licensed at fair and reasonable terms. As essential patent holders, Japanese manufacturers Fujitsu, Matsushita Communication Industrial (Panasonic), Mitsubishi Electric, NEC and Sony Corporation have also expressed their willingness to co-operate with such arrangements." | Royalty levels; fair and reasonable terms |
| Open Invention Network (OIN) / Multiple licensees (IBM, NEC, Novell, Philips, Red Hat, Sony, Canonical, +500 additional firms) | N/A | License Agreement | OIN-owned patents (200+) and licensee patents relevant to Linux | Royalty-free cross-licensing agreement among OIN licensees; applies only to uses for the Linux System | Royalty-free |
| Panasonic | 2002.11.06 | Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens, and Japanese manufacturers reach a mutual understanding to support modest royalty rates for the W-CDMA technology worldwide | Essential patents for W-CDMA | "Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens today reached a mutual understanding to introduce licensing arrangements whereby essential patents for W-CDMA are licensed at rates that are proportional to the number of essential patents owned by each company. The intention is to set a benchmark for all patent holders of the W-CDMA technology to achieve fair and reasonable royalty rates. . . . The above companies also own a significant number of the essential patents applicable to the CDMA2000 standard. These patents will be licensed at fair and reasonable terms. As essential patent holders, Japanese manufacturers Fujitsu, Matsushita Communication Industrial (Panasonic), Mitsubishi Electric, NEC and Sony Corporation have also expressed their willingness to co-operate with such arrangements." | Royalty levels; fair and reasonable terms |
| Paypal | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | DMARC specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Pebble Learning | N/A | Open Web Foundation Agreement 0.9 (OWFa 0.9) | Leap2A specification | Non-assertion agreement that applies "so long as all required portions of the Specification are implemented;" RAND-Z license; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Ping Identity | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | Simple Identity Cloud Management: Core Schema 1.0 Draft specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Posterous | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| ProSyst Software | 2006.07.26 | Leading Tech Companies United to Support OSGi Technology | Necessary patents for OSGi Service Platform, Release 4 Specifications | Non-assertion agreement; subject to termination if the the implementer asserts IP rights against any implementation of the specification | Non-assertion |
| Qualcomm | 2013.12.08 | LTE/WiMax Patent Licensing Statement | Patents covering LTE/WiMax | "Qualcomm expects that it will charge royalties for a license under its standards essential LTE patents and/or standards essential WiMax patents for complete, end user subscriber devices that implement LTE and/or WiMax standards, but do not implement any 3G CDMA standards, of approximately 3.25% of the wholesale selling price of each such device, subject to reciprocity and other standard terms and conditions. ... with respect to multi-mode LTE/3G CDMA devices and WiMax/3G CDMA devices, Qualcomm expects that it will not charge a royalty rate on such multi-mode devices for use of both Qualcomm's standards essential LTE and/or WiMax patents and standards essential 3G CDMA patents that is greater than Qualcomm's standard 3G CDMA royalty rate, subject to certain standard terms and conditions." | Clarification / Maximum royalty rates |
| RedHat | 2002.05.29 | Red Hat, Inc. Statement of Position and Our Promise on Software Patents | Any software which is licensed under GNU General Public License v2.0 and v3.0; GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1 and v3.0; IBM Public License v1.0; Common Public License v1.0; Q Public License v1.0; Open Software License v3.0; or any open source license granted by Red Hat. | Non-assertion promise; subject to suspension against "any party who institutes patent litigation against Red Hat with respect to a patent applicable to software (including a cross-claim or counterclaim to a lawsuit)" | Non-assertion |
| Return Path | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | DMARC specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| SafeMashups Inc. | 2009.11.11 | Open Web Foundation Agreement 0.9 (OWFa 0.9) | MASHSSL Core Specification 1.2.0 open | Non-assertion agreement that applies "so long as all required portions of the Specification are implemented;" RAND-Z license; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| SailPoint Technologies | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | Simple Identity Cloud Management: Core Schema 1.0 Draft specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Salesforce.com | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | Simple Identity Cloud Management: Core Schema 1.0 Draft specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Samsung | 2013.10.18 | Proposed Commitments Offered to the European Union in Case COMP/C-3-39.939 - Samsung Electronics Enforcement of UMTS Standard Essential Patents | Patents granted in the EEA that are declared essential to ETSI/3GPP 2G, 3G or 4G mobile standards (incl. GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, LTE) and IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi, plus improvements to the foregoing. | Samsung has proposed the following Commitment in order to end the EC investigation of its injunction practices regarding UMTS patents. The Commitment would require Samsung to negotiate FRAND rates for up to 12 months with potential licensees, If agreement is not reached w/in 12 months, parties may choose either to submit the dispute to arbitration (at the ICC or European Patent Arbitration and Mediation Center) or resolution by the High Court in England. Samsung will not seek an injunction in the EEA against any potential licensee that agrees to this procedure. | Non-injunction |
| Samsung | 2006.07.26 | Leading Tech Companies United to Support OSGi Technology | Necessary patents for OSGi Service Platform, Release 4 Specifications | Non-assertion agreement; subject to termination if the the implementer asserts IP rights against any implementation of the specification | Non-assertion |
| SAS | 2014.02.20 | SAS Supports White House Efforts to Curtail Patent Trolls | Prior art | "In response to a call from the Administration, SAS will convert 38 years of user documentation and technical papers to electronic form and provide it to IP.com, which has partnered with the USPTO to publish, aggregate and analyze technical documentation." | Prior art |
| Siemens | 2002.11.06 | Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens, and Japanese manufacturers reach a mutual understanding to support modest royalty rates for the W-CDMA technology worldwide | Essential patents for W-CDMA | "Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens today reached a mutual understanding to introduce licensing arrangements whereby essential patents for W-CDMA are licensed at rates that are proportional to the number of essential patents owned by each company. The intention is to set a benchmark for all patent holders of the W-CDMA technology to achieve fair and reasonable royalty rates. . . . The above companies also own a significant number of the essential patents applicable to the CDMA2000 standard. These patents will be licensed at fair and reasonable terms. As essential patent holders, Japanese manufacturers Fujitsu, Matsushita Communication Industrial (Panasonic), Mitsubishi Electric, NEC and Sony Corporation have also expressed their willingness to co-operate with such arrangements." | Royalty levels; fair and reasonable terms |
| Songkick | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Sony | 2002.11.06 | Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens, and Japanese manufacturers reach a mutual understanding to support modest royalty rates for the W-CDMA technology worldwide | Essential patents for W-CDMA | "Industry leaders NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens today reached a mutual understanding to introduce licensing arrangements whereby essential patents for W-CDMA are licensed at rates that are proportional to the number of essential patents owned by each company. The intention is to set a benchmark for all patent holders of the W-CDMA technology to achieve fair and reasonable royalty rates. . . . The above companies also own a significant number of the essential patents applicable to the CDMA2000 standard. These patents will be licensed at fair and reasonable terms. As essential patent holders, Japanese manufacturers Fujitsu, Matsushita Communication Industrial (Panasonic), Mitsubishi Electric, NEC and Sony Corporation have also expressed their willingness to co-operate with such arrangements." | Royalty levels; fair and reasonable terms |
| Sony Ericsson | 2008.04.14 | Wireless Industry Leaders commit to framework for LTE technology IPR licensing | Patents related to 3GPP LTE/SAE standards | "[T]he companies agree, subject to reciprocity, to reasonable, maximum aggregate royalty rates based on the value added by the technology in the end product and to flexible licensing arrangements according to the licensors' proportional share of all standard essential IPR for the relevant product category. Specifically, the companies support that a reasonable maximum aggregate royalty level for LTE essential IPR in handsets is a single-digit percentage of the sales price. For notebooks, with embedded LTE capabilities, the companies support a single-digit dollar amount as the maximum aggregate royalty level." | Maximum royalty rates |
| Southern California Edison | 2008 | Use Case License Agreements | US 11/626,810 (Method of communicating between a utility and its customer locations) | To preserve SCE's own ability to utilize the use cases (and to allow others to use them as described herein), SCE took the precautionary step of filing a patent application for the AMI Use Cases with the U.S. Patent Office. In our efforts to continue to promote open innovation, SCE solicited industry comments to help draft and offer a non-exclusive royalty-free license for others to use the AMI Use Cases, including for any patent that issues thereon, under the terms and conditions described below. | RF License |
| StatusNet | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | JSON Activity Streams 1.0 specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Stripe | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Sun Microsystems | 2005.09.30 | Raising the bar on patents and standards | Open Document Format for Office Applications v.1.0 specification | Sun's commitment regarding the OASIS OpenDocument specification is a "blanket promise" that is not "restricted to particular facets or features" of OpenDocument and is not restricted to essential patents. | Non-assertion |
| Sun Microsystems | 2005.01.25 | Sun Opens Access to 1,600 patents | 1600+ patents associated with Sun's Solaris operating system | "OpenSolaris developers and customers alike no longer need patent protection or indemnity from Sun's and other participants in the OpenSolaris community for use of Solaris-based technologies under the CDDL and OpenSolaris community process. By releasing the OpenSolaris OS platform under the CDDL, the open source community will immediately gain access to 1,600 active Sun patents for all aspects of operating system technologies that encompass features ranging from kernel technology and file systems to network management, to name a few. Patents for Sun's newest technologies, such as the anticipated Dynamic Tracing technology, will also be available under the open access program." | Non-assertion |
| Technology Nexus | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | Simple Identity Cloud Management: Core Schema 1.0 Draft specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Tesla Motors | 20014/12/06 | All Our Patents Are Belong to You | All patents | "Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology." | Non-assertion |
| TrailBehind, Inc. | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| TrueDomain | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | DMARC specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Trusted Domain | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | DMARC specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| 2012.04.17 | Introducing the Innovator's Patent Agreement | All patents issued to Twitter's engineers, past and present | A commitment from Twitter to its engineers that Twitter's patents will only be used for defensive purposes, unless the engineer authorizes offensive assertion. | Non-assertion |
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| Unbound ID | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | Simple Identity Cloud Management: Core Schema 1.0 Draft specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| University of Massachusetts | 2006 | Non-Assert for Tuschl I siRNA patent applications | RNA Sequence-Specific Mediators Of RNA Interference by David P. Bartel, Phillip A. Sharp, Thomas Tuschl and Phillip D. Zamore: US Serial Nos. 09/821,832, Filed March 30, 2001 and 10/255,568, Filed September 26, 2002, and foreign counterparts | In order to facilitate widespread distribution of an important class of research reagents, [the Patent Owners] now announce that they will not assert the patents listed below against companies that sell or use DNA vectors which induce production of siRNA endogenously, provided that such vectors are only used for research purposes, and provided that the RNA that mediates RNA interference is not isolated from the transformed cells. The Patent Owners intend to enforce the patents listed below against any use not specifically listed above. | Non-assertion |
| Verizon | 2013.10.19 | Randy Milch, General Counsel, Verizon, Oral Statement at Panel Discussion, Software Patents and their Challenges Conference, University of Colorado School of Law | All patents | "We have sold patents to non-practicing entities. Thats wrong. I shouldnt do it. I have made it clear that we are not selling anymore to non-practicing entities | No NPE Transfers |
| VMWare | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | JSON Activity Streams 1.0 specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| VMWare | 2011.05.30 | Open Web Foundation Agreement for Activity Streams Signed | JSON Activity Streams 1.0 and Atom Activity Streams 1.0 Specifications | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Vodaphone | 2014.06.14 | IPR statement on next generation mobile network technologies | Next generation mobile radio essential patents | "While Vodafone respects that holders of IPR built into standards deserve a fair compensation for their R&D efforts, this reward needs to support the success of the technology in an increasingly competitive market. This leads us to believe that the IPR licence structure for any next generation mobile technology should be based on the component price of the radio module built in or attached to devices. Vodafone is committed to licensing its next generation mobile radio essential patents (subject to reciprocity) on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms, free of charge.’" | FRAND |
| Weebly | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Wepay | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Whitehead Institute | 2006 | Non-Assert for Tuschl I siRNA patent applications | RNA Sequence-Specific Mediators Of RNA Interference by David P. Bartel, Phillip A. Sharp, Thomas Tuschl and Phillip D. Zamore: US Serial Nos. 09/821,832, Filed March 30, 2001 and 10/255,568, Filed September 26, 2002, and foreign counterparts | In order to facilitate widespread distribution of an important class of research reagents, [the Patent Owners] now announce that they will not assert the patents listed below against companies that sell or use DNA vectors which induce production of siRNA endogenously, provided that such vectors are only used for research purposes, and provided that the RNA that mediates RNA interference is not isolated from the transformed cells. The Patent Owners intend to enforce the patents listed below against any use not specifically listed above. | Non-assertion |
| XWiki | N/A | The Patent Pledge | Software patents | "No first use of software patents against companies with less than 25 people." | Non-assertion |
| Yahoo | N/A | Open Web Foundation Agreement 0.9 (OWFa 0.9) | Media RSS specification | Non-assertion agreement that applies "so long as all required portions of the Specification are implemented;" RAND-Z license; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Yahoo | 2013.10.29 | Written Testimony of Kevin T. Kramer, VP and Dep. CG, IP, Yahoo! Inc. Before the House Committee on the Judiciary | All patents | [p.5] "we act responsibly when selling patents. Our policy has been to sell patents only to operating entities rather than to non-practicing entities. We do not want our patents to be obtained by a troll and irresponsibly asserted against others in the Internet industry" | No NPE Transfers |
| Yahoo | N/A | Open Web Foundation Agreement 0.9 (OWFa 0.9) | Oauth Web Resource Authorization Profiles (Oauth WRAP) Version 0.9.7.2 | Non-assertion agreement that applies "so long as all required portions of the Specification are implemented;" RAND-Z license; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |
| Yahoo | 2014.02.20 | Edging Patent Trolls Out Through Higher Quality Patents | Prior art | "We have shared prior art relevant to our business and intend to do so in the future. We are considering ways to more easily share non-confidential information with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). We believe that the more information we make available to patent examiners, and the more time they get to study that information, the better equipped they are to analyze patent applications and determine what is patentable and what is not." | Prior art |
| Yahoo | 2005.07.03 | Open Web Foundation Final Specification Agreement (OWFa 1.0) (Patent and Copyright Grants) | DMARC specification | Non-assertion agreement; royalty-free license on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; includes a termination clause that takes effect if either a licensee or a related entity of the licensor asserts patents against the covered material | Non-assertion / RAND-Z |