SFF-8060 Rev 1.5



 SFF Committee documentation may be purchased in hard copy or electronic form
 SFF Specifications available at ftp://ftp.seagate.com/sff

Change History

  5/14/15  Replace 'members' by 'participants' in paragraph 1.


                         SFF COMMITTEE PATENT POLICY

                          Rev 1.5      May 14, 2015

The SFF Committee operates on an open basis and encourages all participants to
abide by this Patent Policy.

Specifications

There is no objection in principle to drafting an SFF Specification in terms
which include the use of a patented item, if it is considered that technical
reasons justify this approach. However, prior to Publication of a proposed
Specification which requires the use of a patent, the SFF Committee shall
receive from the patent holder the following assurance:

 a) A license will be made available without compensation to the applicants
    desiring to utilize the license for the purpose of implementation.
    or
 b) A license will be made available to applicants under reasonable terms
    and conditions that are demonstrably free of any unfair discrimination.

Any dispute over whether a license meets the above assurances can be brought
to the attention of the SFF Committee.

The holder of the patent will be asked to provide the Chairman with a
statement of the number of independent licensees which have either accepted or
advised intention to accept the terms and conditions of the license. The
response (if any) will be distributed in a mailing.

A Specification developed by the SFF Committee which requires the use of a
patent can be distributed as a Development document. Such a Specification
cannot be Published until the Chairman receives written assurance that the
license holder intends to comply with the SFF Patent Policy.

A Specification which requires the use of a patent shall include the text
below.

  The user's attention is called to the possibility that implementation to
  this Specification may require use of an invention covered by patent rights.
  By distribution of this Specification, no position is taken with respect to
  the validity of this claim or of any patent rights in connection therewith.
  The patent holder has filed a statement of willingness to license the use of
  the applicable patent rights on reasonable terms and conditions to
  applicants desiring to obtain such a license.

The SFF Committee shall not be responsible for identifying all patents for
which a license may be required by a Specification or for conducting inquiries
into the legal validity or scope of those patents that are brought to its


SFF Committee Patent Policy                                            Page 1
                                                              SFF-8060 Rev 1.5


attention.

Specifications which require the use of a patent or patents which the owner or
owners are unwilling to license in accordance with the above cannot proceed to
the point of being Published.

Information Specifications

An 'i' specification does not require compliance with the SFF Patent Policy.
It was agreed to add text similar to the following shall be added to the front
matter of all 'i' documents:

   Information Specifications are not developed or endorsed by the SFF
   Committee but were submitted for distribution on the basis that they are of
   interest to the storage industry. If the members agree, then the document
   is distributed by the SFF. The copyright on the contents of the 'i'
   document remains with the contributor.

   Contributors are not required to abide by the SFF patent policy. Readers
   are advised of the possibility that there may be patent issues associated
   with an implementation which relies upon the contents of an 'i'
   specification.

   SFF accepts no responsibility for the validity of the contents.



































SFF Committee Patent Policy                                            Page 2