Background
Knowledge Commons has adopted the Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure (“POSI”). One of the POSI principles is Patent Non-Assertion, which it describes as follows: “An organization should commit to a patent non-assertion covenant. The organization may obtain patents to protect its own operations, but not use them to prevent the community from replicating the infrastructure.”
Knowledge Commons is a project of Mesh Research, which is a division of Michigan State University. Mesh / Knowledge Commons does not currently hold any patents and has no plans to apply for any patents. Mesh / Knowledge Commons does not monitor patents issued to Michigan State University in connection with research performed by other divisions and does not intend this pledge to apply to intellectual property developed by other divisions of the University. Nonetheless, Mesh / Knowledge Commons has adopted the following Patent Non-Assertion Pledge to provide for patent non-assertion should Michigan State University ever acquire any patents based on research conducted by Mesh / Knowledge Commons germane to open scholarly infrastructure.
Patent Non-Assertion Pledge
Mesh / Knowledge Commons promises the following (the “Pledge”) to each person or entity that develops, distributes or uses software (a “Pledge Recipient”): Mesh / Knowledge Commons will not bring a lawsuit or other legal proceeding against a Pledge Recipient for patent infringement under any Patents Michigan State University may ever acquire both based on research conducted by Mesh / Knowledge Commons and germane to open scholarly infrastructure.
It is Mesh / Knowledge Commons’s intent that the Pledge be legally binding, irrevocable (except as otherwise provided under “Defensive Termination” below) and enforceable against Mesh / Knowledge Commons and its successors and assigns.
The Pledge is not an assurance that (i) any of the patents cover any particular software or hardware, (ii) any of patents is valid or enforceable, or (iii) that any activities covered by the Pledge will not infringe patents or other intellectual property rights not subject to this Pledge. Except as expressly stated in this Pledge, no other rights are waived or granted by Mesh / Knowledge Commons or received by a Pledge Recipient, whether by implication, estoppel, or otherwise.
Defensive Termination
The Pledge is conditioned upon the Pledge Recipient not asserting or profiting from the assertion of patents against Mesh / Knowledge Commons or its products or services. Accordingly, Mesh / Knowledge Commons reserves the right to terminate the Pledge, to the extent Mesh / Knowledge Commons deems necessary to protect itself or its products and services (“Defensive Termination”) with respect to any Pledge Recipient (or affiliate) who files a lawsuit or other legal proceeding for patent infringement or who has a direct financial interest in such lawsuit or other legal proceeding (an “Asserting Party”) against Mesh / Knowledge Commons, or against any third party, in either case based in whole or in part on any product or service developed by or on behalf of Mesh / Knowledge Commons.
Any Defensive Termination by Mesh / Knowledge Commons with respect to an Asserting Party shall have the same effect as if the Pledge was never extended to such Asserting Party in the first place. Mesh / Knowledge Commons, in its sole discretion, shall determine the manner and terms, if any, by which rights under Pledged Patents may be extended or re-extended to an Asserting Party after that Asserting Party’s lawsuit or other legal proceeding is permanently dismissed, terminated or withdrawn in writing.
Mistaken Assertion
Should Mesh / Knowledge Commons ever initiate a lawsuit or other legal proceeding for patent infringement based on software which is not the subject of a Defensive Termination, and then receive written notice from the party against whom such lawsuit or other legal proceeding has been filed providing sufficient information for Mesh / Knowledge Commons to reasonably determine that such software in fact satisfies the requirements of the Pledge, then Mesh / Knowledge Commons will use reasonable efforts to withdraw or terminate such legal proceeding (or the applicable portions thereof) within sixty (60) days after receiving such written notice.
This work has been adapted from Crossref’s Patent Non-Assertion Policy, available at https://www.crossref.org/operations-and-sustainability/patent-policy/ under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. In turn this was adapted from Google’s Open Patent Non-Assertion Pledge under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.