Philip Raymond,
Interim Chairperson
Sept 22, 2005

 

The Accountability Initiative is now a working group of the MIT Spam Conference. This is an abbreviated form of the minutes from the first meeting held at MIT on Sept 11, 2005 in Building 1.
 

Summary of 1st Meeting   —  Sept 11, 2005 at M.I.T.
 

1. The group exchanged all claims of proprietary interest in any IP related to sender at risk communications or introductions, whether published or not; and whether patent applied for or not.
    
2. Upon exchanging research notes and conducting independent searches of patent offices and prior art, it appears that 75% of all patents and patent applications were represented at the meeting byt their inventors or the authorized representatives of assignees. 93% of individual claims were represented.
    
3. The group agreed to create a single licensing authority for Sender-At-Risk IP while retaining their individual rights to the respective inventions.
    
4. The group agreed to create a reference implementation, test tools, and a logo certification program, which will simplify development and integration into products and services.
    
5. Some members of the group revealed that they are already in discussions with potential licensees. They felt that the agreements forged at this meeting will significantly help their negotiations.
    
6. The group agreed to offer licensees option packages which include indemnification from external law suits by inventors who are not members of the group. A working committee will research the risk associated with such an offer and the insurance fund/options that may be required to cover liability.
    
7. Guest Members -vs- Full Partcipants
   
   Members are not required to disclose proprietary business models, negotiations with prospective licensees, or other confidential data. But the initiative is predicated on the full disclosure of potentially licensable IP between participants; especially the disclosure of all relevant patent applications, even if unpublished. To equitably serve the interests of participants, it is necessary to ensure that participants discloses relevant information...
   
   Recognizing that Guest members are not bound by NDA or bilateral agreement, the recording secretary and publisher shall restrict certain information and publications to inventors or licensees that have sent an empowered delegate and have exchanged intellectual property. This includes detailed minutes, unpublished IP, disclosures, votes, names of individuals, and unpublished specifications.

Attendees agreed that the meeting was a success. A date for the 2nd meeting has not yet been set. Action items are discussed in the full version of this newsletter.