Update: OpenSocial Spec Process and OpenSocial Foundation IPR

[Dan Peterson]

Hi Everyone,

With 0.9 out for a vote, I wanted to take a moment to refresh everyone on the progress we've made on the new revision of the OpenSocial spec process. I've gone ahead and migrated from the staged draft site[1] to the wiki, so you can see the official spec process here: http://wiki.opensocial.org/index.php?title=Specification_Process 

Building on the last update I sent, I'm happy to report that the OpenSocial Foundation board of directors (and the associated legal team) have recently produced and approved the documents that "bookend" the updated intellectual property rights policy documented at: http://www.opensocial.org/opensocial-foundation/opensocial-foundation-ipr.html[2].

To be clear on the process:

1) Contributors must submit the Contribution Licensing Agreement (CLA) prior to the community incorporating or even reviewing any spec proposals.

2) For each final version, anyone who contributed must submit the Non-Assert Agreement. (For those unfamiliar with the general non-assertion process, the non-assert ensures that contributors grant developers the necessary rights to implement the OpenSocial specifications)

This means that a contributor to many versions of OpenSocial will sign one CLA upfront, and would then submit a non-assert for each final version that he or she contributed to. 

The official legal documents:

• Contribution Licensing Agreement (CLA): http://www.opensocial.org/opensocial-foundation/OpenSocialCLA.pdf 
• (Corporate version: http://www.opensocial.org/opensocial-foundation/OpenSocialCCLA.pdf)
• Non-assert Agreement: http://www.opensocial.org/opensocial-foundation/OpenSocialNonAssert.pdf

In the case of OpenSocial v0.9, while we didn't have the CLA in place prior to starting the 0.9 draft, all contributors must still submit the non-assert for the 0.9 final specification. To make this easier to manage and easier to submit, I'll go ahead and roll out the electronic submission forms and call for "signatures" when the spec goes final next week.

(@Lane, seems like we should go ahead and redirect http://www.opensocial.org/Technical-Resources/spec-process over to it's new wiki home.)

Regards,

-Dan

[1] - https://sites.google.com/site/opensocialdraft/spec-process-proposal

[2] - There were only small tweaks to sections 5.2 and 5.4 relative to the original publication at http://sites.google.com/a/opensocial.org/opensocial/opensocial-foundation/opensocial-foundation-ipr

[Lane LiaBraaten]

On Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 12:01 PM, Dan Peterson <dpet...@google.com> wrote:

Hi Everyone,

With 0.9 out for a vote, I wanted to take a moment to refresh everyone on the progress we've made on the new revision of the OpenSocial spec process. I've gone ahead and migrated from the staged draft site[1] to the wiki, so you can see the official spec process here: http://wiki.opensocial.org/index.php?title=Specification_Process 

Building on the last update I sent, I'm happy to report that the OpenSocial Foundation board of directors (and the associated legal team) have recently produced and approved the documents that "bookend" the updated intellectual property rights policy documented at: http://www.opensocial.org/opensocial-foundation/opensocial-foundation-ipr.html[2].

To be clear on the process:

1) Contributors must submit the Contribution Licensing Agreement (CLA) prior to the community incorporating or even reviewing any spec proposals.

2) For each final version, anyone who contributed must submit the Non-Assert Agreement. (For those unfamiliar with the general non-assertion process, the non-assert ensures that contributors grant developers the necessary rights to implement the OpenSocial specifications)

This means that a contributor to many versions of OpenSocial will sign one CLA upfront, and would then submit a non-assert for each final version that he or she contributed to. 

The official legal documents:

• Contribution Licensing Agreement (CLA): http://www.opensocial.org/opensocial-foundation/OpenSocialCLA.pdf 
• (Corporate version: http://www.opensocial.org/opensocial-foundation/OpenSocialCCLA.pdf)
• Non-assert Agreement: http://www.opensocial.org/opensocial-foundation/OpenSocialNonAssert.pdf

In the case of OpenSocial v0.9, while we didn't have the CLA in place prior to starting the 0.9 draft, all contributors must still submit the non-assert for the 0.9 final specification. To make this easier to manage and easier to submit, I'll go ahead and roll out the electronic submission forms and call for "signatures" when the spec goes final next week.

(@Lane, seems like we should go ahead and redirect http://www.opensocial.org/Technical-Resources/spec-process over to it's new wiki home.)

Done.

[Dan Peterson]

Hey folks,

The online submission forms for the OpenSocial Foundation Contribution Licensing Agreement (individual and corporate) and the OpenSocial Foundation patent non-assert agreement are now available (as per below). In addition, in the interest of transparency and ease of shepherding, each form has a publicly viewable snapshot of its entries (automatically sanitized so we're not publishing sensitive information like phone numbers).

IMPORTANT: For those of you have contributed to OpenSocial's specification, please review and submit the non-assert for all OpenSocial versions you have contributed to (form #3). 

The forms:

1) OpenSocial Foundation Contribution License Agreement (For Individuals)
    [from: http://www.opensocial.org/opensocial-foundation/OpenSocialCLA.pdf]:

• Submission Form: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=rbZiM-1xZvzRO4wWFKxFnYA
• Public Response Info: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=rbZiM-1xZvzRO4wWFKxFnYA

2) OpenSocial Foundation Contribution Licensing Agreement (For Corporations and Other Legal Entities)

    [from: http://www.opensocial.org/opensocial-foundation/OpenSocialCCLA.pdf]:

• Submission Form: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=rZ1BvOOVE0r2fFHrn29ghOg
• Public Response Info: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=rZ1BvOOVE0r2fFHrn29ghOg

3) OpenSocial Foundation Patent Non-Assertion Agreement

    [from: http://www.opensocial.org/opensocial-foundation/OpenSocialNonAssert.pdf]:

• Submission Form: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pcWev5qKc2OAoPjESZe3FSg
• Public Response Info: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pcWev5qKc2OAoPjESZe3FSg

Going forward, for all future iterations of OpenSocial, all contributors will need to submit the proper CLA prior to any shepherd reviewing or incorporating your proposal(s). Of course, you're welcome to fill that form out now, even before we kick off v.NEXT.

More details on the process are included in the forwarded note below, and available at http://wiki.opensocial.org/index.php?title=Specification_Process

Regards,

-Dan