The Organization for Structured Information Standards (OASIS) has moved from having just a single IP rights (IPR) policy to three, with the adoption of a further two policies.

OASIS has diluted support for Reasonable And Non Discriminatory (RAND), which has proved controversial in recent years, through the addition of Royalty Free (RF) on RAND Terms and RF on Limited Terms to the group’s IPR.

OASIS has become home to a number of popular standards for XML web services, including Web Services Business Process Execution Language (WSBPEL) initially prompted by IBM, Microsoft and BEA Systems.

However, the RAND has been seen by many companies, such as Sun Microsystems Inc, as an bad way to release IP that is used in these standards. The sticking point has been reasonable and non-discriminatory a relative phrase that leaves it up to companies who own patents that are contained in software to set the terms and conditions under which their IP is used.

The fear is that companies like Microsoft will work their IP Into specifications, in order to charge developers a fee once the begin building systems using the specifications.

OASIS board of directors chairman Jim Hughes said OASIS is making the change in response to a growing requests from the group’s Technical Committees (TCs).

We have had instanced where TCs have formed and asked for words in charter where they will not approve any specification that could be implemented under RF terms, Hughes said.

He said the change brings clarity to OASIS’s IPR and the potential that new TCs can be formed or that many more groups can fold their work into OASIS.

This gets the IP discussion our of the TCs, so TCs can focus on engineering. We spent lot of time on standards committees discussing IP because it has become a hot issue, Hughes said. Almost certainly this will allow OASIS to move into new areas. From an OASIS point of view, it’s a case of let 1,000 flowers bloom.

RF on RAND will operate in the same way as RAND, only IP holders cannot charge fees of licenses on their license. RF on Limited Terms is similar to RF on RAND, except that is specifies the exact RF licensing that must be granted without further addition. Hughes said OASIS still believes there are areas where it is appropriate to use RAND.