OASIS (organization): Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) is a global consortium that drives the development of e-business standards.

Members of the consortium decide how and what work is undertaken through an open, democratic process.

Patent disclosure controversy

Like many bodies producing open standards, OASIS has a patent disclosure policy requiring participants to disclose intent to apply for software patents for technologies under consideration in the standard. While the W3C requires participants to offer royalty-free licenses to anyone using the resulting standard, OASIS asks only for reasonable and non-discriminatory[1] licensing.

Controversially, this licensing allows publication of standards requiring licensing fee payments to patent holders, effectively eliminating the possibility of open source implementations. Further, contributors could initially offer royalty-free use of their patent, later imposing per-unit fees, after the standard becomes accepted.

Supporters of OASIS point out this could occur anyway since an agreement would not be binding on non-participants, discouraging contributions from potential participants. Supporters further argue that IBM and Microsoft shifting standardization efforts from the W3C to OASIS is evidence this is already occurring.

See Also: World Wide Web Consortium