Subject: Draft 4 Agreement with W3C for Approval

From: Steve Carson <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 12:18:44 -0600

Below you will find a text version of the Cooperative Agreement with W3C
that covers PNG as well as other future cooperative work to be identified
later. (I will also be circulating HTML and DOC versions separately.)
There will be a separate mail the describes the rational for changes
requested by W3C from the version that SC 24 approved in Kista in May.

I am asking SC 24 NBs for their concurrence with the proposed changes by
1 September 1997. If anything needs discussion, lets carry that out on
this reflector to avoid the need for multiple iterations.

Jean and I are going ahead and forwarding the present version to JTC 1
along with the NP for approval. This is necessary to avoid excessive
delays even though there may be additional (hopefully minor) changes that
result from this review within SC 24.

<bold><bigger><bigger>

- - -

Cooperative Agreement Between ISO/IEC JTC1 and the World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C) 

<paraindent><param>out,out</param>ISO/IEC JTC1/SC24 N 1753r2

</paraindent><bigger>

Cooperative Agreement Between ISO/IEC JTC1 and the World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C)

</bigger>

Revision 2

</bigger>

Draft 4

21 July 1997

</bigger></bold>[Note: (to be removed in final version) This version is
not for circulation outside SC 24, but for internal review within SC24
and the Graphics Group of W3C. It incorporates changes requested by Chris
Lilley that arrived too late to be incorporated in Kista. It also
incorporates changes resulting from discussion by W3C management.] 

----------------

<bold><bigger><bigger>

1 Introduction

</bigger></bigger></bold>

The purpose of this document is to establish the detailed procedures
whereby ISO/IEC JTC1 and the W3C will cooperate to continue the
development of a series of ISO/IEC standards based on the work of the
Consortium, including the PNG (Portable Network Graphics) Specification.
The general principles from which the details of this agreement are
derived are: 

a) The W3C 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. Initial
technical development work is done primarily in the Consortium with
provisions for ISO participation. Once the technical work is stable and
the editorial state is satisfactory - as indicated, for example, by the
issuing of the work as a W3C Recommendation - final editorial and
independent assessment technical work, eventually resulting in an
International Standard, is done primarily in the ISO/IEC JTC1 with
provisions for W3C participation. 

d) Both organizations desire that W3C recommendations be adopted as ISO
and IEC standards as quickly as is feasible and with only minimal changes
based on an agreed set of criteria. 

<bold><bigger><bigger>2 Distribution of final standards

</bigger></bigger></bold>

All documents developed under this agreement, including the final ISO/IEC
standards, will be made available through ISO/IEC sources and also
through normal W3C sources, including the open W3C web site. 

<bold><bigger><bigger>3 Document interchange

</bigger></bigger></bold>

ISO/IEC documents developed under this agreement will be made available
to the W3C and the W3C community by placing copies on the W3C Web site.
Relevant W3C Documents on the W3C 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 W3C web
site will be announced on an e-mail reflector limited to the appropriate
ISO/IEC WG(s) and the W3C participants only. 

<bold><bigger><bigger>4 Intellectual property rights

</bigger></bigger></bold>

In accordance with W3C 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 W3C practices. The name of
the standards (including, for the PNG specification, the words "PNG" and
"Portable Network Graphics") shall also remain free of intellectual
property right restrictions. The W3C certifies to ISO/IEC that, to the
best of its knowledge, the original base document (the W3C
Recommendation: PNG (
href="<underline><color><param>0000,0000,fefe</param>http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-png</color></underline>">REC-png-961001))
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. 

W3C grants to ISO and IEC the rights to use the text of the document "PNG
(Portable Network Graphics) Specification, Version 1.0," dated 1 October
1996 (W3C Recommendation: PNG (REC-png-961001) as the base document for
the development of the initial ISO/IEC standard to be done under this
agreement.  ISO and IEC agree that the resulting ISO/IEC International
Standard shall contain a suitable copyright statement similar to the one
in the base document indicating that the standard was derived from this
W3C document. 

<bold><bigger><bigger>5 Alignment of procedures

</bigger></bigger></bold>

To allow coordinated review of all working documents developed under this
agreement, appropriate portions of ISO and W3C procedures must be
aligned.  The various aspects of this alignment are described in the
following subclauses. 

<bold><bigger>5.1 Liaison

</bigger></bold>

The ISO/IEC JTC1 Class C Liaison mechanism will be used as a primary
mechanism to enable cooperation. ISO/IEC JTC1 has appointed the W3C as a
Class C liaison organization to ISO/IEC JTC 1.  This allows W3C members,
W3C technical staff and W3C nominated experts to attend ISO/IEC working
meetings and to participate in the work.  The W3C will accept  an ISO/IEC
JTC 1 representative as a liaison to W3C so that liaison in the other
direction can be achieved.  This representative shall have the following
responsibilities: 

a) at the point that the W3C Director agrees that work should be passed
to ISO/IEC JTC1 for further processing, forward documents to ISO/IEC JTC
1; 

b) pass formal comments from ISO/IEC JTC1 to the W3C community; 

c) report on the work of the W3C at each relevant ISO/IEC JTC 1 or JTC 1
subcommittee meeting; 

d) in coordination with the W3C Director, provide early notification to
ISO/IEC JTC1 of W3C work that is likely to eventually be submitted to
ISO/IEC JTC1; and 

e) coordinate ISO/IEC JTC1 participation in the W3C commenting and voting
process that approves W3C Proposed Recommendations as W3C
Recommendations. 

<bold><bigger>5.2 Early collaboration

</bigger></bold>

Both organizations desire that any W3C 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 W3C Working Groups
in the original creation of their specifications. As a general rule,
submitted specifications shall have reached the status of W3C
Recommendation by the time of their submission to ISO/IEC JTC1. 

Participation in all W3C Working Groups is open to any W3C member that
has signed a W3C Commitment Agreement for the work plus W3C technical
staff and any technical experts nominated by the Chair of the Working
Group. ISO/IEC JTC1 National Bodies are encouraged to participate in the
technical work on PNG and other W3C technologies by participating in
these Working Groups.  Since the desire of both organizations is that
technical changes 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 W3C Working Groups. 

<bold><bigger>5.3 Initiation of ISO/IEC work

</bigger></bold>

No work on W3C Recommendations shall start within ISO/IEC JTC1 until the
W3C Director 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 W3C
Working Groups. The criteria that shall be applied by the W3C Director
with the assistance of the ISO/IEC liaison representative include: 

a) the work is of sufficient interest and importance to the W3C community
to become an ISO/IEC standard; 

b) the work is complete as measured by the style guide; 

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. 

<bold><bigger>5.4 Late stage technical changes

</bigger></bold>

It is expected that editorial changes may be made to the document,
relative to the base 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 

When making such changes, issues of backwards compatibility with the
installed base of Web software should be considered. 

<bold><bigger>5.5 Finalization of ISO/IEC work

</bigger></bold>

ISO/IEC JTC1 and the W3C 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 W3C 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 W3C for review within
the Consortium according to Consortium practices simultaneously with the
DIS ballot within ISO/IEC. This review will involve a full AC ballot,
similar to that involved in moving a W3C Proposed Recommendation to a W3C
Recommendation. If either the DIS ballot or the W3C ballot fails, the DIS
text shall not become an ISO/IEC International Standard.  

<bold><bigger><bigger>6 Joint meetings

</bigger></bigger></bold>

All formal work under this agreement will take place at appropriately
scheduled ISO/IEC JTC1/SC24 meetings. W3C can participate in formal ISO
through the Class C liaison mechanism. 

<bold><bigger><bigger>7 Publication rights

</bigger></bigger></bold>

Both W3C and ISO/IEC retain the rights to publish all documents developed
under this agreement according to their own practices. In the event of
successful balloting, the resulting International Standard will be
published as a W3C Standard on the W3C Web site. 

<bold><bigger><bigger>8 Base document

</bigger></bigger></bold>

At the time that a W3C specification is submitted to ISO/IEC JTC1 for
processing as an ISO/IEC standard, the W3C shall identify the base
document(s) for the work. 

To insure that users of both W3C Recommendations and ISO/IEC
International Standards can readily ascertain changes introduced during
ISO/IEC JTC1 processing, any standards developed under this agreement
shall contain: 

a) a link back to the original W3C Recommendation(s) from which it was
derived; and 

b) a complete list of technical changes from the W3C base document. 

<bold><bigger><bigger>9 Availability of drafts and other working
documents 

</bigger></bigger></bold>

All drafts and working documents will be freely available to participants
according to each party's normal practices. 

<bold><bigger><bigger>10. Maintenance of standards

</bigger></bigger></bold>

Both organizations agree to coordinate matters of interpretation an
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 W3C 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 Defects Editing Committees as needed to
work with W3C . 

Both organizations acknowledge that a registration authority will be
required for items in the resulting ISO/IEC standard.  W3C volunteers to
serve as this registration authority and will submit its application to
ISO once the New Work Item Proposal for this work has been approved. 

---------------------------------------------------------

Steve Carson                 phone:   +1-505-521-7399

GSC Associates Inc.          fax:     +1-505-521-9321

5272 Redman Road             e-mail:  [email-masked]

Las Cruces, NM 88011 USA

---------------------------------------------------------