NENA Intellectual Property Rights & Antitrust Policy
NENA requires an explicit NENA Intellectual Property Rights and Antitrust Policy to conduct its daily work. The objectives of this policy are to: Ensure that Members’ and participating Entities’ IPR are protected; Promote awareness of IPR issues among NENA Committees so as to permit informed decision-making about the tradeoffs associated with technical alternatives encountered in committee work; and Ensure that implementers producing products or services based on NENA standards are not unreasonably inhibited by IPR licensing requirements.
The NENA Intellectual Property Rights and Antitrust Policy PDF document is the complete statement of NENA's Intellectual Property Rights and Antitrust Policy and must be accepted by all members working on NENA's Development Committees.
This policy imposes certain duties on the chairs of NENA meetings.
Notice at Meetings of NENA Committees
At the commencement of the first meeting of a NENA Committee and during the opening session of any conference held for the purpose of discussing, debating, proposing, revising, or otherwise working one or more Deliverables, the Chairman, Working Group Leader, Committee Resource Manager, Conference Emcee, or a designee of any of the foregoing shall read the following statement in its entirety:
On behalf of the National Emergency Number Association, I welcome you to this meeting. It is essential that we observe certain ground rules as we participate in this meeting. Adherence to NENA's Intellectual Property Rights and Antitrust policy, last updated February 15, 2023, is necessary in order to participate in this <insert committee or working group name here>. This includes an obligation to disclose any IPR you own or control. It also includes the stipulation that you are encouraged to disclose any IPR you have knowledge that your employer or that a third party owns or controls. While you and/or your employer retain copyright to any contribution you make to this <insert committee or working group name here>, by making this contribution you and/or your employer are granting NENA an irrevocable non-exclusive license to reproduce, modify and distribute any writings, audio, video or images submitted.
It is important that discussions at this meeting address only that information needed for legitimate functioning of NENA and the <insert committee or working group name here>. Relative to any company or companies represented by any of us, there can be no discussion of: prices; terms and conditions such as credit terms, markups, or profits; geographical areas in which a company or companies seek or may seek to do business; the persons or companies with whom a company or companies will or will not do business; production costs; or any future marketing plans. Any departure from these ground rules could result in severe civil and criminal penalties to you as individuals and/or to your companies. Federal sentencing guidelines mandate jail sentences for antitrust violations and call for criminal fines that may range into the millions of dollars. NENA is committed to complying with any applicable antitrust laws and regulations.
Before participating in this meeting, you are encouraged to familiarize yourself with NENA’s complete Intellectual Property Rights and Antitrust policy, available at www.nena.org/page/ipr. If you believe this policy has been violated at any time during our meetings, you must immediately state your objection, withdraw from the meeting, and notify NENA staff, the chair of the relevant NENA committee, and one or more of the appointees to the NENA Development Steering Council. It is a condition of your participation in this committee that you accept the terms of the policy. If you do not accept these terms, please leave the meeting at this time.
The fact that this statement was read shall be recorded in the meeting minutes or conference proceedings, respectively.
At the first meeting of a NENA Committee meeting held following a change to this policy, the Chairman, Working Group Leader, Committee Resource Manager, Conference Emcee, or a designee of any of the foregoing shall read a summary of all changes to this policy.