SEC/N Thoughts

One of the most challenging intellectual property issues between the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the rest of the industry has centered around the software rights to used equipment.

OEMs have historically evolved their own individual positions on software rights, ranging from basic operating software being considered as part of the system, to a royalty being due every time a piece of equipment is resold. On the other hand, users have done everything from trying to follow each OEM's interpretation to flagrantly disregarding any perceived rights to the software of resold equipment.

In July 2000, the SEMATECH Surplus Equipment Council published a white paper in which the SEMATECH member companies took the position that, "All software required to operate the equipment is transferable through the lifecycle of the equipment without charge." As you can imagine, this caused quite a stir among the OEMs.

At the SEC/NSM Member Conference held in July in San Jose, the member companies ratified "SEC/N Software Licensing Guidelines" for the international buying and selling of used equipment. In short, the guidelines affirm the protection of legitimate intellectual property rights and that the SEC/N member companies will abide by all applicable intellectual property laws.

The guidelines also address the documentation of suitable disclaimers and/or disclosures regarding software licensing issues; transferability of operating software throughout the equipment's life cycle; pricing consistency, without bias, where applicable; withholding of a software license except for statutory reasons; clear and prominent disclosure of policies regarding the transfer of software license; and the unauthorized removal of such disclosures, which are permanently attached to the equipment.