Appendix A: Glossary — Coffee & Standards

Term	Definition
A-119	OMB Circular A-119. The US federal policy document that operationalizes NTTAA, directing agencies to use voluntary consensus standards in procurement and regulation, and defining the criteria a standards body must meet to qualify.
AACS	Advanced Access Content System. Content protection technology used in Blu-ray and HD DVD, employing per-device encryption keys with revocation capability.
ANSI	American National Standards Institute. The US body that accredits standards development organizations. Does not write standards itself.
ANSI Essential Requirements	ANSI's articulation of due process criteria for standards development: openness, lack of dominance, balance, consensus, right to appeal, notification, and consideration of views and objections. Closely parallels the A-119 criteria.
Big-S Standard	A standard from a formal international standards body (ISO, IEC, ITU). Carries treaty-level weight in trade and government procurement.
BRM	Ballot Resolution Meeting. An ISO/IEC process step where comments on a failed ballot are addressed before a re-vote.
Call for Patents	A formal notification issued by a standards body at a defined stage of specification development, triggering a window for participants to disclose or exclude patents.
CEN	European Committee for Standardization. One of three European standards organizations recognized by the EU.
CENELEC	European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization. European standards body focused on electrical engineering.
Commitment to License	A promise by a patent holder to offer a license on specified terms (e.g., RAND or royalty-free) to implementers of a standard. Distinct from an actual license — the license itself is negotiated bilaterally.
Conformance Program	A testing and certification regime that verifies whether an implementation complies with a specification. May involve self-certification or third-party testing.
Consortium	A group of companies collaborating on a standard or specification, often through a multi-party contract rather than a formal corporate entity.
Contribution Trigger	A patent policy mechanism where the commitment is tied to technology you actually contribute, rather than to participation in the working group. Compare with Participation Trigger.
CSL	Community Specification License. A lightweight IP framework developed by the Joint Development Foundation for collaborative specification development in Git-based workflows.
CSS	Content Scramble System. The copy protection technology used on DVDs, predecessor to AACS.
De Facto Standard	A standard that achieved dominance through market adoption rather than through a formal standards process (e.g., Win32 API).
De Jure Standard	A standard formally recognized by an official standards body through a defined process.
Defensive Termination	A provision in a patent commitment that allows the committing party to revoke the commitment against a party that asserts patents against them.
Disclosure Obligation	A requirement in RAND patent policies for participants to notify the standards body of patents they believe may be necessary claims reading on the specification.
ETSI	European Telecommunications Standards Institute. Develops telecom standards, including cellular standards as part of the 3GPP framework.
Exclusion	In a royalty-free patent policy, the mechanism by which a participant declares specific patent claims that will not be subject to the royalty-free commitment. Considered the "nuclear option."
FRAND	Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory. The European term for RAND licensing commitments. The F does not mean "free."
Foundation	An incorporated entity (typically 501(c)(6) in the US) that hosts standards or open source work. Provides governance, operational infrastructure, and legal identity.
Harmonised Standard	A European standard developed by CEN, CENELEC, or ETSI in response to a standardisation request from the European Commission in support of EU legislation. When cited in the Official Journal, conformity with the standard creates a presumption of conformity with the underlying EU legal requirements.
IBR	Incorporation by Reference. The regulatory technique of making a privately developed standard a legal requirement by citing it in a regulation rather than reprinting its text. Widely used in US safety and technical regulation and enabled for voluntary consensus standards under A-119.
IEC	International Electrotechnical Commission. International standards body focused on electrical and electronic technology. Collaborates with ISO through JTC-1.
IETF	Internet Engineering Task Force. Develops Internet protocols (TCP/IP, HTTP, TLS). Operates under the Internet Society. Uses "rough consensus and running code" as its development philosophy.
INCITS	InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards. The US national body for ISO/IEC JTC-1 work, operating under ANSI accreditation.
IPR Policy	Intellectual Property Rights Policy. The patent and copyright rules governing a standards body, including commitment type (RAND, RF), scope, exclusion mechanisms, and disclosure obligations.
ISO	International Organization for Standardization. The largest international standards body. Works with IEC on technology standards through JTC-1.
ITU-T	International Telecommunication Union – Telecommunication Standardization Sector. UN-chartered body focused on telecom standards.
JDF	Joint Development Foundation. A 501(c)(6) nonprofit organized in Washington State that provides a "consortium-in-a-box" framework for standards projects. Now part of the Linux Foundation. Uses a Delaware Series LLC structure (JDF Projects LLC) to provide structural insulation between projects.
JTC-1	Joint Technical Committee 1 of ISO/IEC. The primary venue for international technology standards, including MPEG, JPEG, and related work.
Necessary Claims	Patent claims that cannot be avoided when implementing a standard. Also called "essential claims." The patent claims to which RAND or royalty-free commitments apply.
Non-Assert	A commitment by a patent holder not to enforce specified patents against implementers of a specification. Functionally similar to a license for patent purposes.
Normative	The portions of a specification that define requirements an implementation must follow. Normative text is what patent commitments typically cover. Compare with Informative.
NTTAA	National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995. US statute directing federal agencies to use voluntary consensus standards developed by private-sector bodies in lieu of government-unique standards, except where inconsistent with law or otherwise impractical. Implemented through OMB Circular A-119.
Informative	Portions of a specification that provide explanation, examples, or guidance but do not create compliance requirements. Patent commitments generally do not extend to informative text.
OASIS	Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards. Develops enterprise, security, and interoperability standards. Offers multiple IPR modes (RAND, RF on RAND Terms, RF on Limited Terms).
OWF	Open Web Foundation. Developed community-based non-assert agreements (OWFa) for standards and specification licensing, including a CLA and Final Specification Agreement.
OSP	Open Specification Promise. A patent non-assert developed by Microsoft, structured as a "promise" rather than a license.
Participation Trigger	A patent policy mechanism where joining a working group creates the patent commitment, regardless of whether you contribute technology. Compare with Contribution Trigger.
PAS	Publicly Available Specification. A process that allows a consortium-developed specification to be submitted to ISO/IEC JTC-1 for an international vote, enabling consortium specs to achieve formal international standard status.
Patent Pool	An arrangement where multiple patent holders aggregate their standard-essential patents into a single licensing program, simplifying licensing for implementers. Administered by entities like MPEG LA or Via Licensing.
Presumption of Conformity	Under the EU's New Legislative Framework, the legal effect by which an implementer that conforms to a harmonised standard cited in the Official Journal is presumed to comply with the essential requirements of the underlying EU directive or regulation.
Profile	A defined configuration of a standard for a specific use case. Profiles narrow the options in a broadly written specification to ensure interoperability within a particular context (e.g., web streaming, satellite broadcast).
RAND	Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory. A patent licensing commitment that allows royalties but constrains the patent holder to offer licenses on reasonable terms to all implementers.
RAND-RF	RAND Royalty-Free. A RAND commitment where the royalty rate is zero. Also called RAND-Z (RAND Zero).
Reciprocity	A provision in a patent commitment that conditions the commitment on the recipient also offering patent rights back. May mean "back to the licensor" or "back to the world," depending on the policy.
Reference Implementation	Working code that demonstrates a specification can be implemented. Traditionally used for verification, not production. Increasingly developed as open source intended for deployment.
Rolling Exclusion	An exclusion mechanism without a formal call for patents. Participants must independently track the specification and declare exclusions before finalization.
SDO	Standards Development Organization. Broad term covering organizations that develop standards, from international bodies to industry consortia.
SEP	Standard-Essential Patent. A patent containing one or more claims that are necessary to implement a standard. The patent-level equivalent of necessary claims.
Series LLC	A legal structure where a single LLC contains multiple "series," each operating as a separate legal entity with its own assets and liabilities. Used by JDF to provide structural insulation between projects.
SIG	Special Interest Group. A small, focused collaboration. The term has largely fallen out of favor.
Small-s Standard	An industry standard from a consortium or foundation (W3C, OASIS, IETF) rather than a formal international standards body.
SSO	Standards Setting Organization. Sometimes used specifically for the "big" international bodies (ISO, IEC, ITU), though usage varies.
W3C	World Wide Web Consortium. Develops web standards (HTML, CSS, Web APIs). Incorporated as its own nonprofit in 2023. Royalty-free patent policy first adopted in 2004 and updated since.
WHATWG	Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group. Founded in 2004 by Apple, Mozilla, and Opera to develop HTML as a "living standard" after disagreements with W3C's direction.
Working Group	A subgroup within a standards organization chartered to develop a specific specification. Typically has its own scope, IPR mode, deliverables, and decision-making rules.
Zombie Commitment	A patent commitment that persists after a participant has withdrawn from a working group, covering specifications finalized before the withdrawal.