(j3.2006) Call for Comments - On Draft Proposed INCITS Membership Agreement - Comments Due by Friday, September 6, 2013

[Dan Nagle]

Hi,

Several of our members have expressed concerns with these proposals.

1. Assigning copyright to INCITS for every "deliverable" written
in standards work means, for some organizations, that their legal
department must review each such document to which an employee
contributes in any way.  The overhead and costs of doing so
are prohibitive for continued participation in the standards process.
Even a definition of deliverable, to indicate that the term is meant
to include only published standards would help.  If deliverable means
only standards, votes on standards, and minutes, that might help.
If it means every meeting paper, it kills the committee quickly.

2. INCITS right to change arbitrarily the terms of participation
with no possible refund of fees adds risk to the decision
to participate in the standards process.  Government-funded
organizations are especially hindered by this proposal.

In short, this proposal requires favorable clarification to be
acceptable.  Otherwise, it's a substantial barrier to participation
in the standards process.

On Aug 7, 2013, at 21:08 , "Barra, Lynn" <lbarra at itic.org> wrote:

> To INCITS Community ?
> 
> The INCITS Executive Board (EB) is proposing a Membership Agreement which member organizations will be required to sign in 2014. The purposes of the Agreement are to: (1) document and formalize rules that INCITS has been following operationally for many years; (2) clarify and update other rules; and (3) confirm that Members are legally bound to these rules in order to bring more consistency, transparency, and efficiency to the INCITS standards development process and thereby provide more protection and certainty to the INCITS stakeholders. To support this action, at their April 2013 meeting, the INCITS Executive Board (EB) established an Ad Hoc to facilitate the development of a membership agreement.
> 
> At their July 2013 meeting, the EB discussed the proposed Membership Agreement and agreed that all member organizations should be given an opportunity to review and comment on the proposed Membership Agreement prior to an approval ballot being issued.
> 
> At this time, a call for comments is being issued on the proposed Membership Agreement, copy attached.
> 
> Please note that this email is being sent to you because you have been identified as a primary contact for your organization to INCITS. We request that you forward this information to an authorized individual or legal counsel within your organization for review.
> 
> Members are requested to forward any comments on the proposed Membership Agreement to the Secretariat at lbarra at itic.org not later than Friday, September 6, 2013.  All comments received will be addressed by the Ad Hoc on Membership.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Regards-
> Lynn
> 
> Lynn Barra
> Director, INCITS Standards Operations
> INCITS/Information Technology Industry Council
> 1101 K Street NW, Suite 610, Washington DC 20005
> T: 202-626-5739 | Email: lbarra at itic.org | Web: www.INCITS.org
> 
> <image002.png>
> 
> <INCITSMember_071113-2.docx>

-- 
Cheers!

Dan Nagle