ISO/GEN 9:2007
May 2007
ISO POLICY FOR THE PROTECTION OF ISO’S INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY
as approved under Council Resolution 19/2007
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
1.
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1
Purpose and scope of this document........................................................................................ 2
Terms and definitions................................................................................................................ 2
3.1 Drafts................................................................................................................................ 2
3.2 ISO ................................................................................................................................... 3
3.3 ISO Intellectual Property .................................................................................................. 3
3.4 ISO members ................................................................................................................... 3
3.5 ISO POCOSA................................................................................................................... 3
3.6 ISO Publications............................................................................................................... 3
3.7 ISO Standards.................................................................................................................. 3
3.8 ISO/IEC Guide 21............................................................................................................. 3
3.9 National/regional adoptions.............................................................................................. 3
3.10 Other works ...................................................................................................................... 3
Guiding principles...................................................................................................................... 3
Copyright ownership: assertion of rights ................................................................................... 4
Communicating about copyright................................................................................................ 5
6.1 Promoting the fact that ISO Standards are copyright-protected....................................... 5
6.2 Explaining how to obtain permission to reproduce ISO Standards, Drafts and National
adoptions.......................................................................................................................... 5
Ensuring copyright protection of ISO standards and Drafts against infringement..................... 5
7.1 Affixing a clear copyright notice........................................................................................ 5
7.2 Digital Rights Management (DRM)................................................................................... 6
Copyright notices ...................................................................................................................... 6
8.1 Copyright notice on ISO Standards.................................................................................. 6
8.2 Copyright notice for Drafts................................................................................................ 6
8.3 Draft International Standards (DIS) or Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) ............ 6
8.4 Working Draft (WD) or Committee Draft (CD) .................................................................. 7
8.5 Other copyright notices allowed on Drafts........................................................................ 7
Monitoring electronic access to ISO Standards and Drafts for the preparation of ISO
Standards ................................................................................................................................. 8
9.1 General principles ............................................................................................................ 9
9.2 Directives for distribution ................................................................................................ 10
Introduction
As works involving a creative or intellectual effort, ISO Standards are subject to copyright
protection. Their copyrighted nature has been acknowledged in a number of jurisdictions through
legislative or judicial actions.
The importance of asserting copyright over ISO Standards is twofold: it guarantees their integrity
and their commercial exploitation secures the necessary revenues for pursuing the standardization
activity.
Regarding this last element, the revenue derived from the marketing of ISO Standards and other
ISO Publications represents a key source of income for the Organization (ISO Statutes and Rules
of Procedure, Article 16.1). Thus, protection of its intellectual property, particularly in the digital
environment is of crucial importance to ISO as a whole, and for its members individually. The Code
of Ethics states, following The Fundamental Principles of the ISO system, that:
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All ISO parties shall make their best efforts and take all appropriate actions to ensure the
proper use of the ISO name, mark and logo and to prevent unauthorized sales in any form of
the text of ISO publications.
Consequently, ISO and its members should pay constant attention to the protection of the
copyright on ISO Standards and their National adoptions, and ensure that this Policy is applied.
While acknowledging the strategic commercial importance of ISO Standards, this Policy also
embraces other works collectively referred to as ISO Intellectual Property.
2.
Purpose and scope of this document
The purpose of this document is to define the works protected by copyright, to explain the
responsibilities of the ISO members regarding such protection, and to set the framework for the
implementation of ISO POCOSA.
Copyright protection applies to a number of works of different nature and commercial value, referred
to as ISO Intellectual Property, graphically represented as follows:
ISO Intellectual Property
ISO/GEN 9:2007
ISO Standards
ISO/IEC Directives
Part 2
ISO Publications
Other works
Annex 1 to ISO POCOSA
ISO/GEN 9:2007
ISO derived
products
ISO/CS
products
Partnership
publications
Annex 1 to ISO
Annex 1 to ISO
Annex 1 to ISO
POCOSA
POCOSA
POCOSA
This Policy also applies to National adoptions of ISO Standards and is recommended for application to
regional and national standards and related documents.
The present Policy supersedes ISO/GEN 9:1997 and cancels ISO/GEN 10:1997.
3.
Terms and definitions
For the purpose of this document the following terms and definitions apply.1
3.1 Drafts
Documents prepared by ISO Technical Committees (TC), Subcommittees (SC), Working Groups
(WG) and other technical bodies during the various stages of development of ISO Standards, as
defined in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 and Part 2.
1Terms reproduced from ISO POCOSA, and relevant to the present Policy, are highlighted.
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3.2 ISO
The International Organization for Standardization, ISO, is a network of national standards bodies
worldwide, having its seat in Geneva (Switzerland) where the ISO Central Secretariat (ISO/CS) is
located.
3.3 ISO Intellectual Property
Works over which ISO asserts copyright.
3.4 ISO members
For the purpose of this Policy this includes only ISO member bodies and ISO correspondent
members and their respective publishing companies.
3.5 ISO POCOSA
ISO/GEN 20, latest edition, entitled ISO Policies and procedures for copyright, copyright exploitation
rights and sales of ISO publications, which sets out the rules and procedures for the conduct of ISO’s
commercial activity by the ISO members and the ISO/CS.
3.6 ISO Publications
ISO Publications (ISO Standards, ISO derived products, ISO/CS products, Partnership
publications) as defined in Annex 1 of ISO POCOSA.
3.7 ISO Standards
Any work developed within the ISO standardization process in accordance with the procedures of
the ISO/IEC Directives and Drafts thereof, including their amendments and technical corrigenda, at
all stages of their development. The complete list and definitions of these deliverables is given in
the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
3.8 ISO/IEC Guide 21
ISO/IEC Guide 21 defines recommended methods to be applied for the adoption of ISO Standards
(see also 3.6 above) as regional or national standards or other deliverables.
3.9 National/regional adoptions
National/regional standards and other national/regional deliverables derived from the adoption of
ISO Standards.
3.10 Other works
Literary, artistic, audiovisual or other creative works of any nature developed by or on behalf of the
ISO/CS. These works may include, but are not limited to, training material (CD-ROM,
presentations, templates, assessment material, course software, etc.), promotional material
(brochures, pamphlets, posters, cartoons, images, multimedia presentations, etc.), Web content,
etc.
4.
Guiding principles
4.1 One of the fundamental objectives of ISO and its members is to achieve the widest possible
dissemination and use of ISO Standards throughout the world.
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4.2 The ownership of intellectual property and the sharing of economic returns from the licensing
or marketing of that property are the two pillars of this Policy. They are two related, yet
distinct matters. In turn, ISO POCOSA deals exclusively with ISO Publications and
establishes, within the framework set up by this Policy, the precise mechanism for optimizing
their commercial value and for allocating the ensuing revenues amongst ISO members.
4.3 ISO Standards and Drafts are a key source of revenue for the ISO/CS and the ISO members.
Consequently, ISO Standards (including Drafts) shall not be made publicly available free of
charge to third parties unless specifically authorized by the ISO Council. Also, to the extent
possible in attention to national circumstances and with the limits set forth in Paragraph 4.5
below, National adoptions will not be made publicly available free of charge. Exceptionally,
ISO Standards, Drafts and National adoptions thereof may be made publicly availability free
of charge in connection with the standards development process as defined in 9 below.
4.4 The Secretary-General, acting on behalf of the ISO/CS and of the whole ISO membership,
shall cooperate with members in all actions regarding the protection and marketing of the ISO
Intellectual Property.
4.5 ISO membership is based on one member per country which determines the national territory
where each ISO member carries out its activities. The distribution of ISO Publications and
National adoptions shall be exercised and monitored by ISO members in a way that
safeguards the interests of other members in their national territories. Commercial activities in
territories other than the national territory shall comply with the provisions of ISO POCOSA.
4.6 Commercial contracts negotiated and concluded by the ISO/CS regarding ISO Intellectual
Property should be for the benefit of all ISO members.
4.7 The laws of Switzerland shall govern all matters concerning ISO Intellectual Property. Any
dispute between two or more ISO members shall be brought initially to the attention of the
Secretary-General, who will work with the parties with a view to reaching a settlement. If, and
to the extent that, any such dispute is not settled, it will be referred to mediation followed by
arbitration. The parties to the dispute shall at all times effectively and in good faith endeavour
to reach a settlement.
5.
Copyright ownership: assertion of rights
5.1 ISO asserts legal and beneficial copyright ownership in respect of ISO Intellectual Property.
5.2 In particular, and except as otherwise provided in writing, ISO asserts legal and beneficial
copyright ownership in respect of any work produced under the aegis of ISO, according to the
ISO/IEC Directives, whether by its own officials or by individuals tacitly or explicitly consenting
to participate in such process.
5.3 All rights in the above works are reserved. If any of those works include copyright material
belonging to third parties, the reproduction and distribution of that content in any ISO
Intellectual Property should have been previously cleared with those third parties.
5.4 ISO hereby transfers to each ISO member full exploitation rights in ISO Standards and ISO
Publications for commercial purposes in accordance with ISO POCOSA and further national
standardization activities. The ISO/CS and the ISO members may conclude agreements
assigning, licensing or otherwise transferring their rights, wholly or partially, to other
organizations to achieve commercial efficiency. Any arrangement should be sanctioned with
the signature of a proper contract which should be in conformity with the provisions of ISO
POCOSA.
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5.5 This Policy shall not affect any existing arrangements already signed by the ISO/CS or an
ISO member and third parties.
5.6 The use and distribution of Other works will be authorized royalty-free on a case-by-case
basis only and provided that the source is properly acknowledged and that the integrity of the
original work is preserved. These requirements will also apply to other ISO Intellectual
Property where use and distribution on a royalty-free basis has been expressly stated.
5.7 A clear, visible and explicit copyright notice should be reproduced in a suitable place on each
item of ISO Intellectual Property, irrespective of the format used for the publication of the
document. In addition, for ISO Standards, this copyright notice should be recalled by affixing
on each page an abbreviated notice as follows, except in the case of related agreements
accepted by Council:
© ISO [year] – All rights reserved or © ISO/IEC [year] – All rights reserved
6.
Communicating about copyright
6.1 Promoting the fact that ISO Standards are copyright-protected
For many users of standards, the fact that ISO Standards are under copyright protection is not
obvious. Therefore, the ISO/CS and the ISO members should take every opportunity to ensure that
it is understood that ISO Standards, Drafts and National adoptions are copyright-protected
documents.
6.2 Explaining how to obtain permission to reproduce ISO Standards, Drafts and National
adoptions
End-users should be encouraged to purchase original standards. Unauthorized reproduction
compromises associated revenue, undermines the investment necessary to maintain such
standards and may have a detrimental impact on the integrity and consistency of ISO standards.
The principle to be followed is to prevent unauthorized reproduction by helping end-users to find
out easily whom to apply to get permission to reproduce ISO material and by advising them on
ways to comply with the law. Therefore, all ISO Standards should carry relevant information about
reproduction in the copyright notice mentioned in 5.7 above).
The ISO/CS and the ISO members should also offer end-users appropriate facilities for accessing
ISO Standards. These facilities may range from simple copying arrangements to sophisticated
networking agreements. The ISO/CS can assist in the negotiation of such arrangements.
7.
Ensuring copyright protection of ISO standards and Drafts against infringement
For the ISO/CS and the ISO members, protecting copyright is a major and necessary task.
Although the protection of standards in electronic media is not different from that of standards in
hard copy format, additional care should be taken because documents in electronic form can be
transmitted anywhere when associated with telecommunications, and mass volumes of data can
easily be stored on small media and then transported. Information stored can easily be handled
and masters can be copied without any loss in quality. The following paragraphs explain the steps
to be taken by the ISO/CS and the ISO members to protect the ISO core business, that is ISO
Standards, Drafts and National Adoptions, against infringements.
7.1 Affixing a clear copyright notice
The provisions of 5.7 above should be systematically applied.
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7.2 Digital Rights Management (DRM)
Today, public networks such as the Internet are widely used not only for the distribution of ISO
Standards for commercial purposes, but also as a very efficient tool for the standards development
process within the ISO System (see also clause 8). The drawback of such usage is the ease with
which documents can be distributed without significant control, thus multiplying the risk of copyright
infringements. IT tools now exist to manage digital rights, and in particular the access to
documents in electronic form. When adopting ISO POCOSA, Council decided that the ISO/CS and
the ISO members, in particular those responsible for the Technical Committee and Subcommittee
secretariats, should take appropriate technical measures to ensure that ISO Standards can only be
used in accordance with Annex 2 of ISO POCOSA.
8.
Copyright notices
The protection of ISO Standards shall follow the rules explained in 6 above. Consequently ISO
Standards and Drafts shall never be circulated, for whatever purpose, without a proper copyright
notice (see 5.7 and 6.2 above). This copyright notice changes according to whether the document
is an ISO Standard or a Draft. Consequently, the following copyright notices shall be used
depending on which kind of document is concerned.
8.1 Copyright notice on ISO Standards
The following copyright notice shall appear on each published ISO Standard and, as indicated in 5.7
and 6.2 above, the abbreviated copyright notice shall be recalled on every page.
© ISO [year]
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from either ISO at the address
below or ISO's member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
Case postale 56 • CH-1211 Geneva 20
Tel. + 41 22 749 01 11
Fax + 41 22 749 09 47
E-mail copyright@iso.org
Web www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
8.2 Copyright notice for Drafts
Copyright notices for Drafts indicated below shall be complemented by affixing an abbreviated
copyright notice on each page, as indicated in 5.7 and 6.2.
8.3 Draft International Standards (DIS) or Final Draft International Standard (FDIS)
A more informative copyright notice, as shown below, shall also be printed either on the inside of
the front cover or on the back cover, whichever is most suitable, or at the beginning of any
electronic file. This copyright notice shall be very visible and shall read as follows:
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Copyright notice
This ISO document is a Draft International Standard and is copyright-protected by ISO.
Except as permitted under the applicable laws of the user's country, neither this ISO
draft nor any extract from it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without prior written permission being secured.
Requests for permission to reproduce should be addressed to ISO at the address below
or ISO's member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
Case postale 56 • CH-1211 Geneva 20
Tel. + 41 22 749 01 11
Fax + 41 22 749 09 47
E-mail copyright@iso.org
Web www.iso.org
Reproduction may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement.
Violators will be prosecuted.
8.4 Working Draft (WD) or Committee Draft (CD)
The full copyright notice for WDs and CDs is essentially identical to that for DIS and FDIS, with the
exception of the address of the copyright office, which shall be that of the ISO member responsible
for the Technical Committee (TC) or Subcommittee (SC) secretariat.
Copyright notice
This ISO document is a working draft or committee draft and is copyright-protected by
ISO. While the reproduction of working drafts or committee drafts in any form for use by
participants in the ISO standards development process is permitted without prior
permission from ISO, neither this document nor any extract from it may be reproduced,
stored or transmitted in any form for any other purpose without prior written permission
from ISO.
Requests for permission to reproduce this document for the purpose of selling it should
be addressed as shown below or to ISO's member body in the country of the requester:
[Indicate the full address, telephone number, fax number, telex number
and electronic mail address, as appropriate, of the Copyright Manager of
the ISO member body responsible for the secretariat of the TC or SC within
the framework of which the working document has been prepared.]
Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing
agreement.
Violators will be prosecuted.
8.5 Other copyright notices allowed on Drafts
In cases where a Draft is a direct reproduction of copyright-protected material originating in another
standards developing organization (for example, in the case of parallel development or proposed
adoptions by ISO of existing standards under fast-track or similar processes) the copyright notice
of that organization shall be retained on the Draft, i.e. in place of the ISO copyright notice.
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When the approved ISO Standard is published by the ISO/CS, it shall carry only the ISO copyright
notices. However, when adopted as a national standard with appropriate reference to the ISO
Standard, the copyright notices of ISO may be replaced by those of the ISO member’s own
copyright notice in accordance with the rules of the ISO member in that country.
Copyright notice
This ISO/[other standards developing organization] document is a Draft International
Standard and is copyright-protected by ISO and [other standards developing
organization]. Except as permitted under the applicable laws of the user’s country,
neither this ISO/[other standards developing organization] draft nor any extract from it
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission
being secured.
Requests for permission to reproduce should be addressed to either ISO at the address
below or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester. In the [country of origin of
the other standards developing organization], such requests should be sent to [other
standards developing organization].
ISO copyright office
Case postale 56 • CH-1211 Geneva 20
Tel. + 41 22 749 01 11
Fax + 41 22 749 09 47
E-mail copyright@iso.org
Web www.iso.org
[Indicate the full address, telephone number, fax number, telex number and electronic
mail address, as appropriate, of the Copyright Manager of the other standards
developing organization.]
Reproduction may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement.
Violators may be prosecuted.
9.
Monitoring electronic access to ISO Standards and Drafts for the preparation of ISO
Standards
ISO's standards development process requires that national consensus positions be established
as a pre-requisite to reaching an international consensus. The use of electronic distribution
therefore facilitates participation of national bodies in the process. However, they should also be
vigilant in ensuring that only those parties officially designated at the various stages in the ISO
Standards development process can access the working documents electronically and submit
comments.
Occasionally, a particular ISO member body or correspondent member may be required by
national legislation to make ISO Standards publicly available free of charge. In case of conflict with
their national legislation, ISO members shall always attempt to accommodate the provisions of this
Policy and of ISO POCOSA with the requirements of their national legislation.
The paragraphs below provide guidance regarding material that may be made publicly accessible
and which should continue to be restricted. In case of doubt, the ISO/CS will provide further
information on request.
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9.1 General principles
The ISO standardization process encourages the distribution of ISO Standards and Drafts (WD
and CD) needed for the preparation of ISO Standards, free of charge but only within the ISO
Standards development process, to ensure that all interested parties have the opportunity to
contribute to their development.
In this context, the ISO Standards development process involves:
•
•
•
•
•
ISO members, specifically the P-members and O-members of a given Technical committee
(TC);
delegates accredited by ISO members;
liaison organizations participating in ISO committees;
experts appointed to ISO working groups (WG);
members of national committees mirroring an ISO Technical Committee (TC) and their
sponsoring organizations (e.g. trade associations, government departments, etc.).
Consequently, free document distribution is restricted to those who support the
standardization infrastructure and actively contribute to the development of the ISO Standards.
The rationale for this restrictive policy is that ISO and many of its members are financed to a large
extent through income from sales. Also, individuals having access to ISO Standards and Drafts are
responsible to ensure that those documents are not further distributed.
In addition, the following applies:
•
The use of public networks should be encouraged in the standards development process under
the condition that such use, unless otherwise approved by the ISO Council, is strictly limited to
identified users and follows the rules explained in this document.
•
The use of electronic distribution further implies that, at any given stage in the standards
development process, there must be a single identifiable master copy of the electronic
document, which preferably should be maintained by the document originator in revisable form.
•
Working documents needed for the preparation of ISO Standards should be provided in PDF
form2 only with a view to limiting the possibilities of corruption and amendment, which could
lead to confusion concerning the official text. If, for some types of documents, the availability of
copies in other formats would be justified, in that this would facilitate the preparation of
comments, the owner of the master copy should be prepared to make such copies available on
request or following a decision of the TC/SC/WG. The comments should, however, always
refer to the master copy or to an unaltered reference copy.
•
The rights of ISO members with regard to the reproduction and sale of ISO Standards and
Drafts are determined by ISO POCOSA.
•
The reproduction of ISO standards and Drafts, in whole or in part, by other parties requires
written permission from the ISO/CS or from the ISO member in the country of the requester.
Note: ISO has a 'Global Directory' that lists the authorized contributors to ISO Committees and
their working groups. Secretariats and Officers should ensure that contributions are from officially
designated sources and that only accredited delegates participate in meetings. The ISO/CS should
be informed in all cases where problems arise. In addition, most ISO members responsible for ISO
committee secretariats make use of a central ISO/CS server for electronic collaboration and
2 PDF, Portable Document Format by Adobe Systems
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hosting of Committees (the 'ISOTC' Server). Therefore, the ISO member of the country holding the
secretariat should always be consulted about hosting a Web page or other electronic collaboration
means.
9.2 Directives for distribution
The paragraphs below explain the rules to be followed for the distribution of ISO Standards and their
Drafts. In addition to these rules, the provisions of clause 7 above should be followed. Moreover, the
status of modified versions of technical documents created in the form of contributions from a
National Body or a designated expert shall be clearly identified, with all proposed revisions clearly
marked. The names of individuals to whom ISO Standards and their Drafts are distributed should
also be specified.
9.2.1
ISO Standards, DISs and FDISs
Although ISO Standards are copyright-protected, it is ISO's policy that they may be reproduced
and distributed for the purpose of further standardization: for example, ISO/TC A may wish to
consider normatively referencing a standard produced by ISO/TC B and such a decision will
require that members of ISO/TC A have the opportunity to review the ISO Standard in question. In
these circumstances, such an ISO Standard may be reproduced for distribution within the ISO
System free of charge, but it is necessary that ISO's copyright be respected under the foregoing
provisions. Therefore, the text (including graphics, tables and pictures) of an ISO Standard may be
distributed electronically if the recipients are named individuals entitled to receive the text by virtue
of their being part of the ISO System. The issuer of the text will need to be clearly identified and the
relevant copyright restrictions will need to be recalled. If the text is made available from a
document server, access will need to be restricted to those who are duly entitled, and the
restrictions on further distribution shall be systematically recalled.
9.2.2
Working Drafts (WDs) and Committee Drafts (CDs)
WDs and CDs should be treated in the same way as ISO Standards reproduced for the purpose of
further standardization, i.e. electronic distribution to designated individuals is acceptable provided
that the issuer of the document and the status of the documents are clearly identified, but access to
such documents from a server shall be restricted and the restrictions on further distribution
systematically recalled.
9.2.3
Ballots and comments
Ballots and comments resulting from consultations or technical enquiries on WDs, CDs, and DISs
coming from authorized sources are in effect project-related. However, unlike most project-related
documents which come from a central source and are distributed to a number of users, these
originate from the users and are delivered to a central receiver. It is therefore of the utmost
importance to validate the source of the ballots and comments and to ensure that they have been
sent by an authorized person and received by an authorized recipient.
9.2.4
Reports of meetings and resolutions
The reports and resolutions of meetings need to be made widely available to the experts
participating in a TC/SC/WG. A distinction must be made between reports prepared for public
information and confidential reports quoting specific comments of participating experts. The latter
should, for the sake of privacy, be protected by passwords.
9.2.5
Project management information
Project management information stored in the database of the ISO/CS or in that of the TC/SC
secretariat is internal data that should be accessible only to authorized persons. Data should be
protected, for instance, by the use of passwords.
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9.2.6
Public information and administrative documents
Public information such as the ISO/IEC Directives, Memento, press releases, etc. and
administrative documents such as TC/SC work programmes, annual reports, meeting calendars,
document registers, meeting notices and agendas may be made publicly accessible free of charge
on Web servers.
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