Web Lessons: why not govern all IP by non-profit?
Protocol innovation requires speed that only commercial companies can sustain. Netscape shipped SSL, cookies, and JavaScript from 1994, and consumer adoption followed. After W3C took over web standards, CSS 2.1 took thirteen years to finalise, and engineers from Apple, Mozilla, and Opera left in 2004 to form WHATWG and build HTML5 outside the consortium process.
We observe the same pattern beyond the web. XMPP and other protocols, which were under non‑profit governance before reaching product‑market fit, never reached maturity or mass‑market adoption and remain the domain of enthusiasts.
SimpleX Licensing
SimpleX Network intellectual property (IP) is owned by IP owners. Currently there is one IP owner party in the Consortium Agreement — SimpleX Chat Ltd — others will join.
Protocol specifications, software, and documentation are licensed by the IP owner to Consortium Agreement parties under the AGPLv3 software license, with additional covenants in the Consortium Agreement. The licensing is perpetual and irrevocable. If a party that owns IP sells it, or is sold itself, or shuts down, the licensing rights of Consortium Agreement parties survive.
SimpleX Protocols Governance
See the RFC README for the full process and the current state.
Standard and Core IP
A subset of protocol specifications can be designated as Core IP — the fundamental network protocols that evolve slowly. Standard specifications evolve at product pace, by the party that develops software. Core specifications evolve under a slower, agreed process; they only change via a process approved by a governing decision of the Consortium.
The designation of some part of protocol specifications as Core IP requires a governing decision. Once a specification is designated as Core IP, the designation cannot be reversed other than via a governing decision.
Changes to the Consortium Agreement
Changes to the Consortium Agreement, to IP policy, and the admission or removal of parties require a decision of parties in line with the agreement.