From carson@siggraph.org Thu Jul 10 23:35:13 1997 Received: from siggraph.cgrg.ohio-state.edu (siggraph.cgrg.ohio-state.edu [128.146.18.100]) by dkuug.dk (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id XAA03532 for ; Thu, 10 Jul 1997 23:35:08 +0200 Received: from study.huntleigh.com (carson@siggraph.org) by siggraph.cgrg.ohio-state.edu (8.8.5/941010.52) with SMTP id RAA04131 for ; Thu, 10 Jul 1997 17:34:58 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <3.0.32.19970710153755.006872b8@siggraph.cgrg.ohio-state.edu> X-Sender: carson@siggraph.cgrg.ohio-state.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0 (32) Date: Thu, 10 Jul 1997 15:38:18 -0600 To: SC24@dkuug.dk From: Steve Carson Subject: Revised Cooperative Agreement with VRML Consortium Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Here is a text version of the agreement as approved by the Consortium Board of Directors today. The only big change that was asked for was in clause 5.1. We had asked to have our liaison representative made a member of the VRML Review Board (VRB). We had misunderstood the fact that board members are elected by the Consortium membership, not appointed, and so it was politically very awkward to accept an appointed outside member. Instead, we settled on the more neutral wording "The VRML Consortium accept an ISO/IEC JTC 1 representative as a liaison representative to the VRML Review Board (VRB)...". I also fixed a few minor typos. If any NB has a problem with this change please let me know by Friday 20 July, otherwise we will agree that the document as revised below is approved by SC 24. - - - ISO/IEC JTC1/SC24 N 1741R Cooperative Agreement Between ISO/IEC JTC1 and the VRML Consortium Revision 1 Draft 5 3 July 1997 1 Introduction This is the first revision of the original June 1997 agreement (ISO/IEC JTC1/SC24 N1599) between ISO/IEC JTC1 and the VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) Architecture Group (VAG). Since the time that the first agreement was negotiated, the VAG has been superseded by a new organization named the VRML Consortium. Also, the VRML Consortium has several new items of work underway that supplement the VRML specification. Both ISO/IEC JTC1/SC24 and the VRML Consortium have indicated their willingness to extend and continue the cooperative arrangement in SC24 N1599 that has led to the successful processing of the VRML 97 Specification as an ISO/IEC standard. The purpose of this document is to establish the detailed procedures whereby ISO/IEC JTC1 and the VRML Consortium will cooperate to continue the development of a series of ISO/IEC standards based on the work of the Consortium, including the VRML 97 Specification (DIS 14772). The general principles from which the details of this agreement are derived are: a) The VRML Consortium produces "publicly available" industry specifications through an open, consensus based process with international participation by thousands of individuals and organizations. b) ISO/IEC JTC1 wishes to adopt suitable industry specifications as ISO and IEC standards. c) Both organizations desire to harmonize their procedures so that initial technical development work is done primarily in the Consortium with provisions for ISO participation and the final editorial and independent technical assessment work is done primarily in the ISO/IEC JTC1 with provisions for VRML Consortium participation. d) Both organizations desire that VRML Consortium Specifications be adopted as ISO and IEC standards as quickly as is feasible and with only minimal changes based on an agreed set of criteria. 2 Distribution of final standards All documents developed under this agreement, including the final ISO/IEC standards, will be made available through ISO/IEC sources and also through normal VRML Consortium sources, including the open VRML Consortium Web site. 3 Document interchange ISO/IEC documents developed under this agreement will be made available to the VRML Consortium and the VRML community by placing copies on the VRML Consortium Web site. Relevant VRML Consortium Documents on the VRML Consortium Web site will be referenced in the ISO/IEC activity. No documents will be referenced which are not generally available. Notification of availability of new documents on the VRML Consortium web site will be announced on an e-mail reflector limited to the appropriate ISO/IEC WG(s) and the VRML Consortium participants only. 4 Intellectual property rights In accordance with VRML Consortium procedures, the text of all working documents developed under this agreement, as well as the final ISO/IEC standards, shall remain free of intellectual property right restrictions which would limit their open distribution following normal VRML Consortium practices. The name of the standards (including the words "VRML" and "Virtual Reality Modeling Language" shall also remain free of intellectual property right restrictions.) The VRML Consortium certifies to ISO/IEC that the original base document (the VRML 97 specification) is free of intellectual property right restrictions, and in particular, contains no material which any organization claims is proprietary or confidential or is the subject of any patent. If and when other work beyond that based on the VRML 97 specification is initiated with ISO/IEC JTC1, the VRML Consortium agrees to identify any intellectual property right restrictions to ISO/IEC in accordance with ISO/IEC policies. 5 Alignment of procedures To allow coordinated review of all working documents developed under this agreement, appropriate portions of ISO and VRML Consortium procedures must be aligned. The various aspects of this alignment are described in the following subclauses. 5.1 Liaison The ISO/IEC JTC1 Class C Liaison mechanism will be used as a primary mechanism to enable cooperation. ISO/IEC JTC1 has appointed the VRML Consortium as a Class C liaison organization to ISO/IEC JTC1. This allows VRML Consortium members to attend ISO/IEC working meetings and to participate in the work of the ISO/IEC. The VRML Consortium accept an ISO/IEC JTC 1 representative as a liaison representative to the VRML Review Board (VRB) so that liaison in the other direction can be achieved. This representative shall have the following responsibilities: a) at the point that the VRML Review Board agrees that work should be passed to ISO/IEC JTC1 for further processing, forward documents to ISO/IEC JTC1; b) pass formal comments from ISO/IEC JTC1 to the VRML community; c) report on the work of the VRML Consortium at each relevant ISO/IEC JTC1 or JTC1 subcommittee meeting; d) in coordination with the VRB, provide early notification to ISO/IEC JTC1 of VRML Consortium work that is likely to eventually be submitted to ISO/IEC JTC1. 5.2 Early collaboration Both organizations desire that any VRML Consortium specifications that are input into ISO/IEC JTC1 be as close to meeting ISO/IEC style and quality requirements as possible. To help achieve this goal, ISO/IEC JTC1 agrees to produce a "Style Guide" and provide it as an aid to VRML Consortium Working Groups for use in the original creation of their specifications. Participation in all VRML Consortium Working Groups is open to any individual worldwide without restriction. ISO/IEC JTC1 National Bodies are encouraged to participate in the technical work on VRML by participating in these Working Groups. Since the desire of both organizations is that technical changes shall not be made once work has been passed to ISO/IEC JTC1 for finalization, ISO/IEC JTC1 National Bodies will encourage their technical experts to participate in VRML Working Groups. 5.3 Initiation of ISO/IEC work No work on VRML Consortium specifications shall start within ISO/IEC JTC1 until the VRB has agreed that the work will be forwarded to ISO for processing as an ISO/IEC Standard. This requirement shall not prevent individual experts who participate in the work of ISO/IEC JTC1 from simultaneously participating in the technical work of one or more VRML Consortium Working Groups. The criteria that shall be applied by the VRB with the assistance of the ISO/IEC liaison representative include: a) the work is of sufficient interest and importance to the VRML community to become an ISO/IEC standard; b) the work is complete as measured by the Style Guide described in Clause 5.2; c) the work is technically stable. The preferred mechanism for initiating work within ISO/IEC JTC1 is the combined NP/CD (New Work Item Proposal/Committee Draft) ballot. One exception is work that can be processed as an additional part of an existing standard so that an NP is not required. As a general rule, submitted specifications shall have reached the status of VRML Consortium Standard by the time of their submission to ISO/IEC JTC1. 5.4 Finalization of ISO/IEC work ISO/IEC JTC1 and the VRML Consortium agree to the following procedures for the processing work once it has entered ISO/IEC JTC1: a) From the time of initiation of processing (normally the NP/CD ballot) through to the publication of the IS text, ISO/IEC JTC1 procedures shall be followed. b) The VRML Consortium can participate in this stage of the work through the Category C liaison mechanism. c) The ISO/IEC DIS text shall be published by the VRML Consortium for review within the Consortium according to Consortium practices simultaneously with the DIS ballot within ISO/IEC. 5.5 Late stage technical changes It is expected that many editorial changes may be made to a Consortium specification as it is processed to become an ISO/IEC standard. Technical changes to a specification once ISO/IEC processing has been initiated shall be allowed only in accordance with the following criteria: a) clarification is necessary for the sake of completeness or consistency; b) a serious technical flaw is found that would render the specification unusable; or c) d) both organizations agree to the change. 6 Joint meetings All formal work under this agreement will take place at appropriately scheduled ISO/IEC JTC1/SC24 meetings. VRB members can participate in formal ISO through the Class C liaison mechanism. 7 Publication rights Both VRML and ISO/IEC retain the rights to publish all documents developed under this agreement according to their own practices. 8 Base document At the time that a VRML Consortium specification is submitted to ISO/IEC JTC1 for processing as an ISO/IEC standard, the VRML Consortium shall identify the base document(s) for the work. 9 Availability of drafts and other working documents All drafts and working documents will be freely available to participants according to each party's normal practices. 10. Maintenance of standards Both organizations agree to coordinate matters of interpretation and defect correction in any ISO/IEC standards that result from this agreement. When requests for interpretation or reports of defects are submitted to ISO/IEC JTC1, they shall be forwarded to the VRML Consortium to provide solutions which shall then be processed through normal ISO/IEC JTC1 processes for defect resolution and interpretation. ISO/IEC JTC1 agrees to establish a VRML Defects Editing Committee to work with the VRML Consortium. Steve Carson Chair, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24 Computer Graphics and Image Processing --------------------------------------------------------- Steve Carson phone: +1-505-521-7399 GSC Associates Inc. fax: +1-505-521-9321 5272 Redman Road e-mail: carson@siggraph.org Las Cruces, NM 88011 USA ---------------------------------------------------------