Overview

This document proposes the creation of a non-profit, private foundation dedicated to the sustainable and open development of the OpenSocial initiative and related intellectual property.  This document will be used as a starting point for creating the charter of such a foundation, along with its structure, policies, and procedures, and its responsibilities for supporting the ongoing development of the technology. 

Requirements

The OpenSocial initiative has reached a point where it must simultaneously (a) put in place sufficient legal structure to provide authors and implementers with the necessary assurances concerning intellectual property, licensing, and logistical concerns, (b) create a scalable and sustainable model for efficient future growth of the technical specifications, and (c) support the ongoing need for the principal stakeholders to ship working and interoperable implementations.

In meeting these needs, the OpenSocial Foundation will be structured to include both corporate and individual representation, and to foster a transparent and participatory community for the purpose of providing equal access to specifications published by the OpenSocial Foundation, at no charge.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the OpenSocial Foundation include:

• Creating a structure and instituting practices for technical development by a broad base of contributors and community stakeholders, independent of any undue influence by any one party
• Creating a governance structure and instituting practices for oversight of community-based development, including review and voting procedures, working group charter creation, dispute resolution, and similar procedures.
• Establishing an intellectual property rights policy
• Holding assigned intellectual property
• Enforcing trademark and copyright
• Creating and maintaining the OpenSocial website and community 

Tasks outside the scope of the foundation include:

• Directly dictating technical aspects of the specifications

Next Steps

1. Draft an OpenSocial Foundation Charter document that describes the structure and mission of the foundation, the rules for choosing the board, and the board's obligations.  This document may borrow heavily from those used by the OpenID Foundation.
2. Create an OpenSocial Foundation Board Membership Agreement document.  This document may borrow heavily from those used by the OpenID Foundation.
3. Create and file the OpenSocial Articles of Incorporation and file for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.  This document may borrow heavily from those used by the OpenID Foundation.
4. Create and publish an Intellectual Property Rights Policy, including OpenSocial Patent Non-Assertion Covenants, which are required to be filed by all contributors to the OpenSocial specifications.