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MMA IP Policy
The following policies and principles govern the relations
between MIDI Manufacturers Association Incorporated, a
California corporation, (“Corporation”) and its Members regarding
the Corporation’s activities to develop specifications ("Specifications")
for the MIDI industry and its products.
"Member(s)" means those entities as defined by
Section 5065 of the California Nonprofit Corporations Law who are Members of the
Corporation, as well as any person who, on behalf of a Member, participates in
the Corporation’s activities to develop Specifications, whether such
participation is via access to: Corporation mailing lists; Corporation web
sites; electronic or printed materials of the Corporation, including but not
limited to the “Technical Standards Board Bulletin”; or oral communication
during a meeting of Members.
“Essential Claims” means patent claims that are
necessarily infringed by any compliant implementation of a Specification.
(1) Members acknowledge consent to these policies and
principles by signing
and dating the Corporation’s Membership Application form.
(2) A Member shall not present for inclusion in a Specification any intellectual
or other property (“Property”): (a) that the Member believes a third party may claim
as Property, without first obtaining the third party's written permission to do so,
as well as the third party's written commitment to make such Property available in
the manner described in Paragraph 3 below; or (b) that the Member believes such
Member may claim as Property, except Property which such Member is willing to make
available in the manner described in Paragraph 3 below.
(3) Except as set forth in Paragraph 4, a Member owning Essential Claims will
provide to any party ("Licensee") a license ("License") that
is royalty-free and otherwise on reasonable and non-discriminatory
("RAND") terms covering those Essential Claims, provided that the
Licensee agrees to grant reciprocal royalty-free Licenses of its own Essential
Claims to such Member and any other creator, user or distributor of compliant
implementations of the Specification. This royalty free License may be suspended
by such Member with respect to a particular Licensee if such Member is sued by
that Licensee for infringement of Essential Claims in the Specification. A
Member's obligations under this Paragraph do not end upon termination of
membership with respect to: (a) Specifications that were created while the Member
was a Member to the extent of those portions of such Specifications that remain
unmodified thereafter; or (b) any submissions made prior to such Member's
termination, whether or not the Specification for which the submission was
intended was adopted prior to such termination.
(4) A Member must promptly notify the Corporation via email or in writing of any
actual or potential infringement of the Member’s Property rights that arises
or may arise in the future as a result of the Corporations activities to develop
Specifications. Failure to notify the Corporation of such infringement or
potential infringement in a timely fashion constitutes a waiver of the Member's
infringement claim against the Corporation and against Members and non-members
alike who use the Property in the manner proposed in the Specification, and
creates a License for the Corporation for Members and non-members alike to use
the Property without royalty or other payment to the Member and otherwise on
RAND terms, in the development, adoption, distribution, commercial exploitation
and marketing of products compliant to the Specification, but not for any
purpose other than as proposed in the Specification.
(5) A Member retains the right to use that Member’s
Property in any activity or manner that is unrelated to, not in conflict with,
or derogation of, and is not reasonably expected to be incorporated in the
Specification and/or in products compliant to the Specification.
(6) No Member shall be obligated to maintain with respect to
another Member or the Corporation itself the secrecy or confidentiality of any
information disclosed or revealed in the course of a Corporation activity.
Members are obligated to maintain the secrecy and confidentiality of such
information with respect to non-members, provided that such information has been
identified as confidential at the time of disclosure.
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MIDI Trademark Policy
The following describes the rules regarding MIDI Manufacturers
Association Trademarks Usage.
1. "MIDI" refers to a series of copyrighted specifications
("MMA Specifications") maintained and published by MMA (and AMEI in Japan). Products, services, and technologies ("Products") based on the
MMA Specifications are known, as "MIDI Products", "MIDI Files", etc.
2. MMA has common law rights in the use of the term "MIDI" in conjunction with
MMA Specifications and associated Products.
3. The term "MIDI" (whether alone or in conjunction with other terms or modifiers) may be used by other parties (a) in reference to Products that are compliant with
MMA Specifications, or (b) in the name of a company that provides such Products. Such uses need not be approved in advance by MMA. Conversely, the use in reference to non-compliant Products and/or by a company that does not produce Products compliant with MMA Specifications is NOT ALLOWED.
4. The use of the term "MIDI" in combination with other terms or words to identify Products that while compliant with MMA Specifications also have additional functions that are not set forth in an MMA Specification is likely to lead people to expect that MMA has standardized said functions which is deceptive trade practice, false advertising, and unfair competition. Therefore such uses are not approved by MMA.
5. The treatment (font and design) of the term "MIDI" which appears in the MMA Logo (see web page header, above) and in logos licensed by MMA identifying products compliant with MMA's General MIDI Specification may not be used by any party without first obtaining a license from MMA. At this time no usage other than those mentioned above is licensed by MMA. |
