The clash of IoT IP policies: Intel vs Qualcomm

Both Apache 2.0 and the OIC's IPR policy bind affiliates. If a corporation has upstream parent entities or downstream subsidiaries, all are covered by the patent provisions.

4. AllSeen banks on ISC Licence and Patent Non-Assertion Pledge

The AllSeen Alliance will release Alliance Code under the ISC License and provide no other rights for such code than those expressly granted in the licence, according to the group.

It's clear that AllSeen is going to places where OIC hasn't gone. They are opting for ISC licence, which Updegrove said is "even more brief than the BSD licence."

Updegrove pointed out that the entire licence comprises only a copyright notice, a warranty disclaimer and the following grant language:

Permission to use, copy, modify and/or distribute this software for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.

This, obviously, is "a very short permissive licence" that could use additional protection for software users.

In essence, AllSeen has adopted an IP Policy that includes a "patent non-assertion pledge," which provides explicit language relating to rights that may be only implied under the ISC Licence. Updegrove believes these additional assurances will make future releases of core code more commercially attractive when the same code has been approved under the certification programme that the project intends to support.

It's also important to note that each pledge includes the right to revoke it under certain circumstances.

5. Why the open source community has no access to the draft OIC spec

McCall confirmed that the open source community can access the IoTivity code but has no access to the draft OIC specs.

Asked why, he explained: "Most groups like OIC keep draft specifications confidentially to avoid outside development of blocking patents and issues of patent hold up. Once finalised and adopted by OIC, they will be made public." He added, "Technically the OIC board must vote to make any material public, but that's the intent."

- Junko Yoshida
??EE Times

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