Membership
OSCAF is open to all types of organisations and individuals. OSCA Foundation is aiming particularly at vendors of collaboration systems and services but would like to welcome any organisational or individual members as well. OSCAF adopts two different schemes of membership: Associated Members have the right to attend working groups (WG), influence group work and participate in group communications (e.g. read and write emails). Full Members will have, in addition, the priviledge to vote on WG decisions, submit to adoption processes and write specifications to be the industry standard, as well as elect the board of directors. Organisational members exercise their member rights through their directors or a proxy designated by the directors. Fees Membership fees vary depending on the membership level (associated or full member), the country of the organisation, for-profit or not-for-profit status, and their annual gross revenues. The OSCA Foundation distinguishes between not-for-profit organisations through the United Nations definition of Developed and Non-Developed Countries. In exceptional circumstances free membership may be granted at the discretion of the General Assembly. The following table summarises the annual membership fees for members: Member Fee structure ...
Benefits for Members
Benefits for enterprises and organisations to become an OSCAF member:
- Critical mass
The foundation provides a critical mass of like-minded organisations in a vendor neutral environment. Therefore it has more of a political clout than one company alone. - Grow a market
Standards are necessary to establish or grow a market, but creating standards is a costly and time consuming effort. The foundation provides means for its members to establish and influence standards and specifications, and therefore provides an effective environment for ensuring interoperability and creating a larger market for each individual member. - Innovation
The Foundation is active at the forefront of innovation be creating new opportunies for its members. Being visible and recognised for openness, interoperability and innovation increases reputation, impact and international outreach. - Competitive advantages
Interoperable products become more and more attractive to customers by allowing them to complement your products according to their special needs. Following open standards thus becomes a competitive advantage. - Leverage existing knowledge
The foundation provides access to knowledge that is expensive to miss. - Get early insights
Get an early insight into market trends and support a vibrant community taking part in an emerging technology. - Get in touch with leading research institutes in semantic technologies and with major participants and contributors in semantic communities. The main institutions have numerous professional relations and contacts throughout the world – both in academia and in industries.
- Get in touch with leading businesses in the semantic and collaborative sector
With its focus on semantic collaborative information technology OSCA Foundation is a common platform for software producers and vendors in and around this sector.
Member Fees
For-Profit Organisations
| Annual Gross Revenue | Annual Membership Fee Associated Members |
Annual Membership Fee Full Members |
| Less than € 1 million | € 625 | € 1,250 |
| € 1-10 million | € 1,250 | € 2,500 |
| More than € 10 million | € 2,500 | € 5,000 |
Not-For-Profit Organisations
| United Nations defined Country |
Annual Membership Fee Associated Members |
Annual Membership Fee Full Members |
| Developed countries | € 1,000 | € 2,000 |
| Developing countries | € 500 | € 1,000 |
OSCAF offers a free Trial Membership for the first 30 days (only once). Different schemes apply to Invited Experts who do not acquire membership but are invited by working groups (see section on process) and may participate in WG activities. Based on a decision of the General Meeting, not-for-profit organisations which are deemed to be important for the success of the foundation can be invited with a reduced membership fee.
Member Application & Agreement
By joining OSCAF -- the Open Semantic Collaboration Architecture Foundation -- you become part of the solution and ensure your views are represented in the development, convergence, and adoption of open standards in this field.
Please download our ...
Member application & agreement form [PDF]
Choose one of these options to apply for membership:
- print out the application form, fill in the fields, ...
- open the form in your PDF reader software, fill in the fields, print it out, ...
... then sign it and mail it or fax it to us (see address inside).
Please also read overview on membership or benefits for members.
Intellectual Property
Regular foundational work involves and requires a lot of communication and collaboration, causing a large number of, mainly digital, contributions and submissions from its members: information, ideas, statements, knowledge, results, data, etc. -- being delivered in various formats: emails, documents, meeting minutes, talks, spread sheets, slides, charts, graphics, etc. To enable open processes, OSCA Foundation regards members' contributions as either public or members only, according to the following principles:
Cooperative Process
The development of OSCAF Recommendations and Specifications is a cooperative process in which representatives of software users, software developers and other interested parties work together in good faith to create industry specifications that benefit their own companies and the entire industry. Numerous advantages naturally accrue to OSCAF Members who actively influence the content of a new specification, but any use of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) to “ambush” users of the specification or gain any unfair competitive advantage is unacceptable to OSCAF and to its members.
Rights of Publication
OSCAF and its members shall be free to use and publish any research results, ideas, algorithms, techniques and other information developed in connection with the Foundation during the term of the member agreement, except that intellectual property described below shall be subject to the licenses specified therein.
Disclosure
All OSCAF Members, whether or not they are submitters of a proposed specification, are expected to disclose relevant patents, patent applications and other IPR that may be necessary to the implementation of an OSCAF recommendation or specification. It is the firm policy of OSCAF that patented (or patentable) technologies will be included in OSCAF recommendations or specifications only after receipt of assurances that their use in implementing the specification will be permitted on Royalty-Free (RF) or commercially reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) terms. Such disclosures should be made as early in the specification development process as possible, so that OSCAF Members will have as much opportunity as possible to reconsider the use of the disclosed IPR. However, except for the disclosure requirements OSCA Foundation makes no inquiry into the existence or non-existence of any patent rights or other IPR relating to a specification or any implementation of a specification. The introductory matter to every OSCAF specification shall include an appropriate statement to this effect.
Confidential Information Policy
All information disclosed at any OSCAF meeting, and all submissions to OSCAF, will be deemed to be public information that has been disclosed without any restrictions on use by anyone. However, no valid copyright or patent right will be deemed by OSCAF to have been waived by such disclosure.
If an OSCAF Member wants to keep certain information confidential, they should not disclose it at an OSCAF meeting.
Any time members wish to discuss confidential information, they must set up a separate meeting completely outside the OSCAF process and have participants sign non-disclosure agreements.
Contributions to the OSCA Foundation are regarded non-confidential, but will not necessarily be explicitly published. Only documents and information explicitly geared towards the public will be published, however, the foundation is not liable for disclosing information.