Subject: [Uri-review] IPR Issues and DOI

From: "Hammond, Tony (ELSLON)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 12:02:42 +0100

Hi Larry:

Following up on our May 16 post, here is a statement from the IDF
(International DOI Foundation) which should address some of your concerns on
patent/trademark issues and DOI.

Tony

DOI as a managed system 

Like Domain Name registration, DOI assignment requires a fee and agreement
to follow the defined standard and rules; this does not make the system
closed, or commercial, but it does make it managed.  The DOI Foundation is a
not-for-profit organization, not a commercial operation; but the system has
costs that need to be met.  Persistence is a function of organizations, not
technology: to support a persistent identifier system, a persistent
organization needs to exist.  The principle concern of a persistent
organization is of continuing funding; hence the model selected for a
long-term position for a DOI organization was a body that is not reliant on
external sources, such as grants or membership, but is a self-funding system
that can be supported in perpetuity from its own resources.  The IDF is
currently undergoing controlled migration from its initial member-funded
organization (like W3C) to an operationally-funded organization.  

The implementation of the DOI System adds value, but necessarily incurs some
resource costs: in data management, infrastructure provision and governance,
all of which contribute to persistence.   The mechanism chosen to recoup
those costs incurred by the organization is a self-funding "franchise"
business model, as used by the physical bar code UCC/EAN system, and other
proven systems.  This is funded by a fee for participation (which may
optionally be passed on to registrants, waived or subsidised by the
operating entity), but not for use of a DOI once issued.  

To make such a system work effectively requires protection of the assets
within the system (1) from illicit exploitation, and (2) for assured quality
control.   Illicit exploitation would include someone calling something a
DOI when it is not part of the system; this could be damaging to one or both
of the financial health (avoiding payment of an issuing fee) or the quality
(poor data) of the system.  To prevent this requires the availability of
legal remedies: specifically, DOI relies on copyright and trademark law to
protect the DOI brand and reputation.   DOI is not a patented system; the
IDF has not developed any patent claims on the DOI system and does not rely
on patent law for remedy.  
 
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