there has been a change of notion in brussels in regard to open standards, edri reports:

old:

The standard has been published and the standard specification document is available either freely or at a nominal charge. It must be permissible to all to copy, distribute and use it for no fee or at a nominal fee.

The intellectual property - i.e. patents possibly present - of (parts of) the standard is made irrevocably available on a royalty-free basis.

There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.

new working version:

There are varying degrees of openness. At one end of the spectrum are specifications and software promoting collaboration, that can be freely accessed, reused and shared and that are considered open. At the other end non-documented, proprietary specifications, proprietary software and the reluctance or resistance to reuse solutions. What lies in-between the two ends can be called 'openness continuum'.

computerworlduk writes about it.

the timing is especially of interest, also for the ict public private partnership call, upcoming plans and proposals for the 8th framework. | nice meeting