FAQ

Projects that align with Joint Development Foundation Project’s (“JDF’) goals of collaboration, openness, neutrality, and industry impact are particularly well-suited for the JDF. Examples include:

• Contributors from multiple organizations, ideally across ecosystems, who are looking to develop a standard or specification to address a gap, pain point, or emerging need across sectors
• Industry consortia looking to advance their specification to a recognized international standard
• Organizations looking to move their proprietary technology to an open and neutral platform for greater adoption and broad community engagement.

While we have helped projects form from little more than a dream, it’s helpful to think about the answers to a few questions first:

• Which companies will be collaborating together to initialize the Project?
• What kinds of deliverables or technical programs will you be creating together?
• If this is an existing project, are you able to transfer the digital assets and trademark to the Project? Do you need a name?
• What resources will your new Project need to be successful?

These are a few of the high-level questions our team will help you think through during formation.

Joint Development Foundation Projects goal is to help projects get up and running quickly, without the need to negotiate custom agreements. Much like you use the Creative Commons or Apache licenses as-is, Projects under the JDF use the Joint Development Foundation Projects provided agreements as-is.

For more than 10 years, JDF has produced and vetted its legal agreements with experts in the field. However, new versions might be required as we encounter different patterns or challenges in the industry. If there are changes you’d like to see, please get involved with JDF and let us know.

Each Project makes its own decision about whether to charge Membership dues and how much to charge. Either way, Organizations join the Project – not the Joint Development Foundation Projects.

Projects that do raise money through Membership fees have a membership requirement. Fundraising for JDF Projects is supported by the Linux Foundation, which manages funding activities that support our projects. Our team can help you create the Membership strategy that works best for your collaborators.

Project Membership is limited to organizations who can commit to the IP licensing terms selected by the Project. However, individuals who are not affiliated with an organization can still participate in a Project by making contributions to an open source repository, joining public discussion forums or mailing lists, or becoming an invited expert to a Project’s Working Group. Individuals making contributions to a Working Group must sign the Non-Member Agreement.

No, projects operate independently and the Joint Development Foundation and Joint Development Foundation Projects entities do not get involved with projects directly. The Joint Development Foundation Projects, will, however, monitor projects to help ensure that the project’s activities are operated in accordance with the foundation’s corporate purpose and policies, such as its non-profit status and regulatory guidelines.

The Linux Foundation is a California 501(c)6 non-profit organization that specializes in enabling and accelerating open source ecosystems. It provides services, staffing and support to the Joint Development Foundation Projects, LLC, a Delaware Series LLC organization. New technical Projects are established as a Series of Joint Development Foundation Projects, LLC, a subsidiary of the Joint Development Foundation 501(c)(6) nonprofit based in Washington.

The intellectual property framework of a JDF Project is established within the Working Group charters of the project. Any change to the intellectual property framework of a JDF Project can only be accomplished through the action of the Steering Committee of the JDF Project and in accordance with the provisions of the project and working group charters of that project.

None of the Linux Foundation and its affiliates (including the Joint Development Foundation or any LF Entity) or any boards of directors, managers or officers of, or personnel associated with, any LF Entity may unilaterally modify the intellectual property framework of any JDF project.