Let's share intellectual property to fight COVID-19
The Open COVID Pledge
April 7, 2020
Immediate action is required to halt the COVID-19 Pandemic and treat those it has affected. It is a practical and moral imperative that every tool we have at our disposal be applied to develop and deploy technologies on a massive scale without impediment.
We therefore pledge to make our intellectual property available free of charge for use in ending the COVID-19 pandemic and minimizing the impact of the disease.
We will implement this pledge through a license that details the terms and conditions under which our intellectual property is made available.
Are you coming to
How to make the Pledge?
1
Publicly commit to making intellectual property relevant to COVID-19 freely available
- Post a public statement that your organization is making the Pledge, on your website.
2
Implement the pledge via a license detailing the terms and conditions under which your intellectual property is made available.
License options:
- Adopt an Open COVID License (OCL), created by our legal team for organizations that wish to implement the Pledge simply and immediately on terms shared by many other organizations.
- Adopt your own license that carries out the intent of the pledge
3
Email us a link to this statement and license on your website, a point of contact in the organization, and a copy of your logo to opencovidpledge@gmail.com.
How to support the Pledge?
As an organization
We welcome endorsements from organizations and groups who support our mission to remove barriers to the use of intellectual property with the potential to help end and mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Please send statements of support to opencovidpledge@gmail.com, along with your logo and a contact name and email.
As per our FAQ, this is an expression of institutional support without any legal obligation. If you hold COVID-relevant IP we recommend Making the Pledge.
As an individual
Advocate for your organization or others to make the Open COVID Pledge. Download a template email text.
Raise awareness of the Open Covid Pledge in your networks using #OpenCovidPledge.
Frequently Asked Questions
- This site gives users two options for getting involved. First, an organization can “Support” the Open COVID Pledge. This is an expression of institutional support without any legal obligation. Second, an organization or individual can “Make the Pledge,” promising the public free use of its intellectual property (IP) for this purpose. To implement the pledge, the pledgor must publish a license consistent with the pledge. The license can be one of the suggested Open COVID Licenses or, alternatively, a custom license that is consistent with the Open COVID Pledge. Each of these options is described in greater detail below.
The Open COVID Pledge is a commitment by holders of intellectual property to share their intellectual property for the purposes of ending and mitigating the COVID-19 Pandemic.
A pledge is a promise that the IP owner makes to the public. In this case, the promise contains the grant of a license and some other things that are discussed below. When a pledge is made and publicized, the pledgor is telling others that they have permission to take the actions described in the pledge. Even though a written contract may not be signed, this promise has legal force, especially if others rely on it and start to make and sell their own products based on the pledgor’s IP.
Individuals, institutions, companies and other organizations who hold intellectual property rights can all make the pledge. For organizations, the pledgor must have the legal authority to commit the organization.
