Open standard

A standard is considered to be open when it complies with all these elements:

• cannot be controlled by any single person or entity with any vested interests;
• evolution and management in a transparent process open to all interested parties;
• platform independent, vendor neutral and usable for multiple implementations;
• openly published (including availability of specications and supporting material);
• available royalty free or at minimal cost, with other restrictions (such as field of use and defensive suspension) offered on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms; and
• approved through due process by rough consensus among participants.

From: The Roadmap for Open ICT Ecosystems, Harvard (2005)

A completely open standard has the following properties:

• It is accessible and free of charge to all
• It remains accessible and free of charge
• It is accessible free of charge and documented in all its details

From: Danish National IT and Telecom Agency, Definition of Open Standards, June 2004

Krechmer (2005) points out that the term Open Standards may be seen from the following three perspectives: 

1. The formal SSOs, as organizations representing the standards creators, consider a standard to be open if the creation of the standard follows the tenets of open meeting, consensus and due process.
2. An implementer of an existing standard would call a standard open when it serves the markets they wish, it is without cost to them, does not preclude further innovation (by them), does not obsolete their prior implementations, and does not favor a competitor.
3. The user of an implementation of the standard would call a standard open when multiple implementations of the standard from different sources are available, when the implementation functions in all locations needed, when the implementation is supported over the userís expected service life and when new implementations desired by the user are backward compatible to previously purchased implementations.

These are the very different views from the creators, implementers and users of standards on what is an Open Standard. Their combined, reasonable, but not simple expectations translate into ten rights that enable Open Standards:

1. Open Meeting - all may participate in the standards development process.
2. Consensus - all interests are discussed and agreement found, no domination.
3. Due Process - balloting and an appeals process may be used to find resolution.
4. Open IPR - IPR related to the standard is available to implementers.
5. One World - same standard for the same capability, world-wide.
6. Open Change - all changes are presented and agreed in a forum supporting the five rights above.
7. Open Documents - committee drafts and completed standards documents are easily available for implementation and use.
8. Open Interface - supports migration and allows proprietary advantage but standardized interfaces are not hidden or controlled.
9. Open Use - objective conformance mechanisms for implementation testing and user evaluation.
10. On-going Support - standards are supported until user interest ceases rather than when implementer interest declines (use).

From Ken Krechmer, International Center for Standards Research, University of Colorado: The Meaning of Open Standards (2005).

An Open Standard is more than just a specification. The principles behind the standard, and the practice of offering and operating the standard, are what make the standard Open.
Bruce Perens: Open Standards: Principles and Practice

Wikipedia on Open standard