Patent-Free Declarations

Author's Declaration

Any Author may make an initial patent-free declaration to the Free Protocols Foundation relating to a protocol. This declaration should include statements to the effect that:

• To the best of the Author's knowledge, the protocol is not subject to any patent restrictions.
• It is the Author's intention to maintain the protocol patent-free.
• In the event that the Author becomes aware of a patent right restriction relating to the protocol, or a patent right assertion is made with respect to the protocol, the Author will make prompt disclosure of this fact to the Free Protocols Foundation.

Any such statement provided to the FPF will be published on the FPF website. Examples of statements previously provided to the FPF can be found in the Author's Declarations section of the FPF website.

Working Group Declaration

If a Working Group participates in the development and/or maintenance and enhancement of a protocol, it may make a declaration that its protocol maintenance and enhancement procedures conform to the FPF Processes and Procedures regarding patent-freedom. A Working Group may do this by providing the Free Protocols Foundation with a statement that its protocol development process conforms to the processes and procedures set forth in Section 4.6.

Any such statement provided to the FPF will be published on the FPF website, and the corresponding protocol will be added to the list of those declared to conform to the FPF's patent-free policies and procedures.

Examples of statements previously provided to the FPF can be found in the Free Protocols Working Group Declarations section of the FPF website. The list of declared-conforming protocols is available in the List of Free Protocols Specifications and Their Declarations section of the FPF website.