This document outlines the interim Working Group Procedures and must be read and understood by all members of any ODRL Initiative working group.

It is expected that a formal set of Procedures will be approved by the ODRL International Advisory Board (IAB).

Working Group Overview

• A Working Group shall have a Charter that outlines the objectives, timelines and major deliverables.
• The Working Group shall elect a Chair or a Chair maybe appointed by the IAB.
• The Working Group members shall have authority to create additional officers, e.g., Co-chairs or Vice-Chairs, etc. as needed.
• The Working Group members shall have authority to create technical sub-committees as required.

Working Group Membership

• Any person may join a Working Group at any time.
• Every member of the Working Group explicitly agrees with the ODRL Initiative Intellectual Property Rights Policy when they join a Working Group.
• A member may be removed by the two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of existing members.
• Removal shall be defined as failure to participate, or willful breach of the WG Procedures.
• Any member may resign from the Working Group at any time by providing notice in writing to the WG Chair and they have provided any work they have agreed to.

Working Group Voting

• Members from the same organisation (or affiliated organisations) can only have one vote.
• In order to vote, the voting member must be "in good standing". That is, have actively participated in the WG activities.
• Voting shall occur in any form or via any medium selected by the members.
• Proxies shall not be permitted for any purpose.
• All votes shall be recorded by the Chair and the result of the vote reported to all members.

Working Group Documents

• Working Groups shall develop documents in the following maturity levels:
  1. Working Draft
  2. Draft Specification
  3. Specification
• Approval of any Document (including changes to maturity levels) requires the two-thirds majority vote of all voting members.
• Documents may be developed by the Working Group or a technical sub-committee of the Working Group.
• The technical work of the Working Group will be conducted in an open and inclusive fashion, as set forth in the Charter.

Working Group Information

• The Working Group shall maintain official copies of Working Group documents in a repository accessible to all members and the public
• The Working Group shall use an e-mail list-serve for discussion of work items, meeting minutes, call for votes, and voting.

Intellectual Property Rights Policy

• In order to promote the widest adoption of ODRL Specifications, the ODRL Initiative adopts the W3C Royalty-Free (RF) Policy.

Acknowledgments

This Document draws inspiration from the W3C Patent Policy and Idea Alliance's Working Group Operating Procedures. We acknowledge the substantial work that each of these organizations has done to refine and produce guidelines in this area.

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Last Updated on 2004-07-05