[cabfpub] Forum-12 - Update CA/B Forum Bylaws

[Anna Mayergoyz Weinberg]

Hi,

Apple requests to remove the addition of “Voting" from the following sentence in section 5.5 of the revised bylaws, which may have unintentionally changed the scope of IPR Policy obligations:

As a requirement for membership, Voting Members must execute and return to the CWG Chair the IPR Policy Agreement attached as Exhibit A before participating in any CWG. 

This language in the revised bylaws, which singles out Voting members as required to sign the IPR Policy before participating in any CWG, is not consistent with the remainder of this section, which generally discusses “members". All members should be subject to and required to sign the IPR Policy. In addition, the change is not consistent with other parts of the bylaws, including e.g.,Section 1.3, which reads:
Forum Voting Members, Associate Members, and Interested Parties must comply with the then-current IPR Policy and all applicable antitrust laws and regulations during their Forum activities.

And, e.g, section 3.1, which reads:

Participation as an Associate Member is by invitation only. In order to become an Associate Member, an organization must sign a mutual letter of intent, understanding, or other agreement and the Forum’s IPR Policy Agreement …

And, e.g., section 3.2, which reads:
Any person or entity that wishes to participate in the Forum as an Interested Party may do so by providing their name, affiliation (optional), and contact information, and by agreeing to the IPR Policy Agreement attached as Exhibit A (indicating agreement by signing the agreement).

Best regards,

Anna

Anna Weinberg
Senior Standards Counsel
 Apple Inc.
408-429-9211 anna_weinberg at apple.com

> On May 4, 2020, at 1:58 AM, Dimitris Zacharopoulos (HARICA) via Public <public at cabforum.org> wrote:
> 
> The following motion has been proposed by Dimitris Zacharopoulos of HARICA and endorsed by Mike Reilly of Microsoft and Tim Hollebeek of Digicert.
> 
> Purpose of Ballot:
> 
> The Forum has identified and discussed a number of improvements to be made to the current version of the Bylaws to improve clarity and allow the Forum to function more effectively. Most of these changes are described in the “Issues with Bylaws to be addressed <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EtrIy3F5cPge0_M-C8J6fe72KcVI8H5Q_2S6S31ynU0>” document.
> 
> Here is a list of major changes:
> 
> Clarified the use of the term “Member” so it is clear when we discuss about all Forum Members (which includes Associate Members and Interested Parties), and when we discuss about the “Voting Members”. Adding the word “Voting” in front of the word “Member” removes this ambiguity. Also, the term “Members” or “Forum Members” is now the union of “Voting Members”, “Associate Members” and “Interested Parties”.
> Added the term “Voting Representative” which is designated by each Member. Only votes submitted by Voting Representatives will be considered.
> Replaced “Forum wiki” with the properly defined term “Member Web Site”.
> Removed references for Webmaster in the definition of “Public Web Site” since it is repeated in section 5.2.
> Added the Photography Policy in Exhibit D.
> Clarify 4.1 (2) that Forum Members nominate representatives
> Allow Informative Changes to Guidelines
> In 5.3.1 require that a Certificate Issuer is trusted in the “latest” software produced by a Certificate Consumer
> In 4.1 the Chair is eligible to be elected as Chair after having vacated the position as Chair for at least one (1) term, instead of two (2) years.
> 
> -- MOTION BEGINS --
> 
> Amendment to the Bylaws: Replace the entire text of the Bylaws of the CA/Browser Forum with the attached version (CA-Browser Forum Bylaws v2.3.pdf).
> 
> NOTE: There are three redline versions:
> 
> PDF (attached as "CA-Browser Forum Bylaws v2.3-redline.pdf")
> DOCX (attached as "CA-Browser Forum Bylaws v2.3-redline.docx")
> GitHub redline available at https://github.com/cabforum/documents/compare/fc63be73323195abc4e462708ca0385e37b7043d..a94d136c6ddbd0024e9bdc70785aa71f1e2f6753#diff-c2f0349076f544cc0e9f059f30f21a85 <https://github.com/cabforum/documents/compare/fc63be73323195abc4e462708ca0385e37b7043d..a94d136c6ddbd0024e9bdc70785aa71f1e2f6753#diff-c2f0349076f544cc0e9f059f30f21a85>-- MOTION ENDS --
> The procedure for approval of this ballot is as follows:
> 
> Forum-12 - Update CA/B Forum Bylaws 
> 
> Start time (15:00 UTC) 
> 
> End time (15:00 UTC) 
> 
> Discussion (14 days)
> 
> 04 May 2020
> 
> 18 May 2020
> 
> Vote for approval (7 days)
> 
> TBD
> 
> TBD
> 
> <CA-Browser Forum Bylaws v2.3-redline.pdf><CA-Browser Forum Bylaws v2.3-redline.docx><CA-Browser Forum Bylaws v2.3.pdf>_______________________________________________
> Public mailing list
> Public at cabforum.org
> https://cabforum.org/mailman/listinfo/public

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