For Immediate Release Contact

The Policy is applicable to all members of ARTS and acceptance of this Policy will be a condition of ARTS membership. Non-members wishing to attend technical meetings must agree in writing to accept the Policy.

The Policy is applicable to the Data Model, IXRetail, UnifiedPOS and future technical committees established by the ARTS Board to develop specifications.

The Policy permits members that disclose intellectual property to reserve rights on how they will license its use.

The Policy encourages members to immediately disclose upon discovery of intellectual property that maybe imbedded in ARTS specifications.

No member is required to conduct patent searches to search for intellectual property within ARTS specification(s.)

Members who participate in the development of ARTS specifications must assign representatives with reasonable knowledge in the field of work.

The Policy establishes defined periods for review of developing draft specifications for both technical accuracy and intellectual property. A public review period is also provided.

Members who do not disclose intellectual property within an ARTS specification before that specification is approved by the ARTS Board, must provide a 12 month royalty free license to all implementers, during which time ARTS may modify the specification to remove the infringing IP and each implementer may make appropriate resolution.

There is a default reasonable and non-discriminatory (“RAND”) licensing obligation for members of Work teams and Technical Committees with only limited exceptions.