Intent
Rowow LLC files and holds patents on parts of its technology for defensive reasons: to keep the technology open and available to all, and to give our open licenses real force on physical hardware. We do not hold these patents to charge rent or to exclude good-faith users. This pledge states publicly how we will and will not use them. It sits alongside our open licenses rather than replacing them: CERN-OHL-S governs each released design and carries its own patent grant for that design, while this pledge covers our patents across all uses and gives them one portfolio-wide defensive shield.
The proposed pledge
Under the pledge we are proposing, for each patent and patent application that Rowow LLC places on the Pledged Patents list (to be published and kept current at rowow.net/patents), Rowow would commit, irrevocably except as conditioned in the one exception below, that it will not assert that patent against any person or company for making, using, selling, offering to sell, importing, or improving the corresponding technology, when that activity is carried out in good faith and in compliance with the open license under which Rowow released the technology (CERN-OHL-S).
This is intended as a genuine commitment that users can rely on once adopted. It is not conditioned on a user refraining from studying, questioning, or designing around our patents. This draft sets out the commitment we intend to make; it does not make that commitment until a final version is adopted after legal review.
The one exception: defense
This pledge does not protect a party who uses patents as a weapon. The non-assertion commitment ends, with respect to a given party, if that party starts patent litigation, or a patent-based proceeding seeking to block or invalidate the community’s use of the technology, against Rowow LLC, against any Rowow technology released under this pledge, or against any other good-faith user of it. It also ends for a party that funds or stands to gain from such an attack brought by someone else, so the pledge cannot be dodged by hiring a proxy.
When the commitment ends for a party, it ends across the whole Pledged Patents list for that party, not only for the patent at issue. This portfolio-wide defensive termination follows the proven model of Google’s Open Patent Non-Assertion Pledge, in force since 2013, and the patent-retaliation terms in widely used licenses such as Apache 2.0 and GPLv3. A party that turns patents against the commons is cut off from the commons. This is a shield for the commons, not a sword.
Technology not yet released
Some technology is held back for safety under our Staged Disclosure Policy, and some keystone inventions are patented before they are disclosed. Patents on not-yet-released core technology are reserved during the holding period. When that technology is released publicly, the corresponding patent is added to the Pledged Patents list and becomes subject to this pledge on the same terms. We hold these patents to keep the path open, not to close it. The membrane patent application, No. 19/531,984, is the first patent on that list.
What this pledge does not cover
This pledge covers the patents Rowow places on the Pledged Patents list, which are patents on the open core technology. Rowow may also hold patents on proprietary, client-specific applications that are licensed commercially under separate agreements, as described in the Open Technology Charter. Those application patents are not part of this pledge unless Rowow chooses to add them to the list. The pledge keeps the open core open; it does not give away the commercial application work that funds the mission.
Looking ahead
To extend protection to the wider community beyond our own patents, we intend to join a defensive patent network such as the Open Invention Network or the LOT Network. That would give builders some shield against third-party patent trolls that a single firm’s pledge cannot provide on its own.
Durability
A patent placed on the Pledged Patents list is intended to stay pledged. We intend to grant this pledge as a present and irrevocable commitment that runs with the patent as a covenant appurtenant, binding our successors and anyone we sell or transfer the patent to. To make that hold rather than assume it, we also intend to covenant that we will not transfer a pledged patent except expressly subject to this pledge, and to record the commitment so any later owner takes the patent with notice of it. Patents are time limited by law, roughly twenty years from filing; when a pledged patent expires, the underlying invention is free for everyone, which is the outcome we want.
Status list
The Pledged Patents list, and the list of patents reserved pending release, are published at rowow.net/patents and dated. This pledge is versioned in public.