The Trademark License Agreement is the legal contract between The Open
Group and each organization (licensee) wishing to certify products
under the Open Brand Program. It lays down the obligations and rights
of each licensee. Because the licensee publicly "warrants and
represents" that each Certified Product will conform to the Product
Standard, the buyer has a guarantee that the product will conform to
the specification and will continue to do so.
Note that the buying relationship is between the supplier and the buyer. The Open Brand is used as a quality mark that provides additional, explicit benefits when the product purchased is certified under the Open Brand Program.
Buyers look for the Open Brand mark and often mandate that products offered in response to their procurement documents carry the Open Brand. At the beginning of 2002, over U.S.$55 billion of IT purchases had so far made use of the Open Brand.
The Open Brand Trademark License Agreement, together with all the
documents it references, governs the Open Brand Program. The trademarks
used in the Open Brand Program are registered across the world and are
assiduously protected. For this and other historical and legal reasons,
X/Open Company Ltd., the U.K. subsidiary of The Open Group, operates
the Program and executes the Open Brand Trademark License Agreement
under English Law.
The Open Brand Trademark License Agreement includes five Schedules that
change over time:
The Open Brand Trademark License Agreement is executed by completing
and signing the TMLA Application Form. The signature page must be sent
in original or faxed form. The TMLA Application Form can be downloaded
from
www.opengroup.org/openbrand.
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