Case 2:22-cv-00134-JRG-RSP Document 69-2 Filed 03/09/23 Page 1 of 3 PageID #: 1151
`Case 2:22-cv-00134-JRG-RSP Document 69-2 Filed 03/09/23 Page 1 of 3 PagelD #: 1151
`
`
`
`
`
`EXHIBIT B
`EXHIBIT B
`
`

`

`Case 2:22-cv-00134-JRG-RSP Document 69-2 Filed 03/09/23 Page 2 of 3 PageID #: 1152
`
`Khronos Intellectual Property Framework Briefing
`
`Summary
`When deciding whether to participate in a collaborative consortium such as Khronos™, understanding the organization’s
`Intellectual Property (IP) framework is one of the most important steps. This briefing document outlines how the Khronos
`IP framework provides protection to implementers of Khronos specifications, and the Members that contribute to their
`design, through precisely defined licensing obligations. This has enabled many companies, even those with significant IP
`portfolios, to enjoy the benefits of Khronos participation.
`
`While we hope this briefing is useful, it does not supersede the Khronos Membership and Adopter agreements which take
`precedence if there are unintentional contradictions.
`
`Khronos Background
`Khronos is an industry consortium focused on cooperatively creating open API standards for graphics, compute and vision
`acceleration that are available for royalty-free use. Khronos has over 100 Member companies and governs specifications
`such as Vulkan®, OpenGL®, OpenGL ES, WebGL™, OpenCL™, OpenVX™, COLLADA™ and glTF™. More details about current
`Khronos Members and specifications can be found on the Khronos website at www.khronos.org.
`
`Khronos develops API specifications and associated conformance tests that enable software applications and middleware
`to effectively harness hardware acceleration. Khronos specifications are ‘open’ in four senses: 1) any company is invited
`and able to join Khronos to contribute to and influence the development of its specifications; 2) finalized specifications
`are publicly and freely distributed at zero cost from the Khronos web-site; 3) any company can implement a Khronos
`specification and participating implementers can obtain a trademark license for conformant implementations and pay
`zero royalties to Khronos participants; and 4) developers may freely use implementations of Khronos specifications. At
`Khronos, ‘open’ does not primarily mean open source implementations of specifications, though Khronos does often
`encourage and support open source projects where appropriate.
`
`The most critical aspect of collaborative creation and implementation of API standards is the IP Framework under which
`that collaboration occurs. An effective IP Framework balances two goals: 1) providing protection for bona fide
`implementers so that Khronos participants will not assert IP rights or demand royalties; 2) minimizing Member licensing
`obligations to protect valuable IP portfolios. Khronos operates a carefully constructed IP Framework that protects both
`the Khronos Membership, and participating implementers of its specifications. In broad summary, Khronos participants
`reciprocally simply agree not to assert IP rights against other participants implementing Khronos specifications.
`
`Each Khronos standard has a working group that develops the specification and conformance tests for that API. While
`Khronos specifications are under construction, drafts and other detailed materials are typically confidential to the
`Khronos Membership. This is to prevent industry confusion and to protect draft specifications from submarined patent
`applications by non-members.
`
`Khronos Members sign a Membership agreement that brings their contributions to the design of specifications under the
`cooperative IP Framework, they agree to keep Khronos draft materials confidential, and they execute a conformance test
`source license that enables them to participate in creating and reviewing a body of code used to test implementations
`for compliance with Khronos specifications. There is an annual membership fee which enables participation in any or all
`Khronos working groups with voting rights. Accredited academic institutions may join Khronos for a nominal annual
`membership fee which enables non-voting participation in all Khronos working groups.
`
`Protection for Implementers of Khronos Specifications
`Companies that wish to implement and ship an implementation of a Khronos specification under the protection of
`the Khronos IP Framework execute an Adopters agreement, with an associated Adopters fee, for each version of that
`specification. Becoming an Adopter is independent from Khronos Membership, i.e. Members that implement a
`specification must also become Adopters, but a company does not need to be a Member to become an Adopter.
`
`An Adopter is provided access to the conformance tests and online submission area for the Adopted specifications so they
`may port, execute and upload the results of the tests running on their implementation. Once the submitted results are
`successfully reviewed by the working group, that implementation is conformant. The Adopters agreement includes a
`trademark license, so that conformant implementations may use the name and logo of the specification and enables the
`Adopter to enter into the identical reciprocal IP license for their adopted specifications as Khronos Members.
`
`

`

`Case 2:22-cv-00134-JRG-RSP Document 69-2 Filed 03/09/23 Page 3 of 3 PageID #: 1153
`
`Protection of Khronos Member IP Portfolios
`The Khronos IP framework provides multiple mechanisms by which the IP portfolio of Members is protected as default –
`plus, there are additional elective protective measures that Members can choose to use.
`
`To maximize protection for Member IP the default reciprocal license grant under the Khronos IP framework is carefully
`minimized and does NOT cover: a) implementations that are not fully conformant, as defined by passing Khronos
`conformance tests; b) IP that is not essential, i.e. where any commercially viable alternative implementation techniques
`exist that do not need a Member’s IP to be licensed; and c) any technology that is not explicitly contained in the
`specification for interoperability, meaning that underlying hardware or software implementation techniques are not
`licensed through Khronos participation.
`
`This very narrow licensing scope often means that in practice Members are licensing very little, if any, IP. Plus, as the
`license grant is reciprocal between all Khronos Members and Adopters, in return for their grant each participant receives
`royalty-free licenses for essential IP in Khronos specifications from all other Khronos participants.
`
`The Khronos IP Framework is designed to make licensing obligations precisely understandable: a) the only point of
`licensing is the instant of ratification by the Khronos Board, and ONLY essential IP in the final spec is reciprocally licensed,
`meaning that discussions and contributions not included in the final specification bring no licensing obligation; b) Khronos
`Members do not have to disclose any IP that will be included under the standard reciprocal license – so no patents are
`ever discussed in open Khronos meetings so that Members are not put on notice of specific patents.
`
`As Khronos activities span a wide range of APIs, Khronos Members can explicitly withdraw from participation from certain
`working groups by issuing a Working Group Exclusion Certificate. If a Working Group Exclusion Certificate is in place, and
`the Member does not attend any meetings for the excluded working group, the Member does not participate in any way
`in the reciprocal licensing grant for specifications produced by that working group.
`
`If Members have specific patents they do not want to be included in the reciprocal license, they can issue an “IP
`Disclosure Certificate” prior to ratification to exclude specific essential claims from the reciprocal license, regardless of
`whether or not those claims are associated with an explicit contribution from the Member. This means if your company
`has essential patents that you do not wish to license, those patents can always be ring-fenced. In practice, due to the
`narrowness of the reciprocal license, Members only rarely find it necessary to exclude a specific patent; in fact this
`mechanism has only been invoked a handful of times in the fifteen year history of Khronos Group.
`
`Finally, before any specification is ratified, there is a Ratification Review Period of at least 42 days and all Members are
`notified of the start of the Review Period. Though IP Disclosure Certificates can be issued at any time during specification
`drafting, the notification provides a final reminder to all Members that ratifications are imminent in case they wish to take
`any elective actions.
`
`Industry Inclusiveness
`The Khronos IP framework specifically grants reciprocal royalty-free licenses only to Members and Adopters. This is not to
`exclude non-members as a goal, but it is legally problematic to grant IP licenses to an unknown entity or entities that do
`not explicitly agree to reciprocal terms. So, the Khronos IP framework establishes the largest possible 'raft' of written
`reciprocal contractual obligations - i.e. between all the Khronos participants.
`
`Any company can become an Adopter for any Khronos specification at any time to participate in the reciprocal license and
`use the specification trademark for conformant implementations. Khronos Adopter fees are deliberately set low to be a
`very small percentage of the typical cost of implementation, typically around $20K for a specification, and that fee covers
`an unlimited number of products shipping at any volume.
`
`Non-commercial implementations of Khronos specifications, including open source projects, often cannot afford to
`become a Khronos Member or Adopter. Khronos has often waived Membership and Adopters fees to bona fide open
`source implementers of Khronos specifications that play an important role in the API ecosystem.
`
`Finally, a common comment heard in the wider industry is that ‘patents held by Khronos Members are bad’, but under the
`Khronos IP Framework all Member patents that are essential to a ratified Khronos specification are reciprocally licensed,
`building a larger and stronger patent 'raft' that protects implementers of the specification against non-members asserting
`patents against the specification.
`
`May 2015
`
`