- The TV Anytime Forum is a not-for-profit voluntary business
association, open to all organizations that sign this Memorandum of
Understanding.
- The principal objective of the TV Anytime Forum is to encourage the
development of TV and related multimedia services based on the use of
persistent local storage irrespective of the manner of service
delivery.
- The TV Anytime Forum will develop publicly-available technical
specifications aimed at the needs of all participants in the business chain,
such as content owners or producers, service providers, network operators,
software developers, hardware manufacturers and end users or consumers. An
essential element of the Forum’s work will be to enable inter-operability
and end-to-end system integration.
- Documentation on the activities of the TV Anytime Forum, including
draft specifications, will be made available to the public via the World Wide
Web. Specifications produced by the TV Anytime Forum will be offered to
relevant standards bodies.
- Membership of the TV Anytime Forum is open to any organisation,
including companies, corporations, partnerships and governmental
bodies.
- Each organisation must sign the Memorandum of Understanding and pay
the Membership Fee before being admitted to the TV Anytime Forum as a
Member. All Members are required to pay the Membership Fee on an annual
basis. In the event of non-payment of the Membership Fee within 3 months
of the due date, the Member may be expelled from the Forum and not be allowed
to participate in the activities of the Forum until their outstanding debts to
the Forum have been paid in full. Members may resign at any time by notifying
the Chairman, but they remain liable to payment of any outstanding debts to the
Forum and will not be entitled to any refund of fees paid. The Membership
Fee will be determined by the Plenary Assembly and announced at least one month
before the due date.
- The Plenary Assembly is the supreme decision-making body of the TV
Anytime Forum. Representatives of all Members are permitted to attend meetings
of the Plenary Assembly. Notices of such meetings will be issued by the
Chairman at least one calendar month in advance. Representatives of, at least,
8 Members must be present at the Plenary Assembly to achieve a
quorum.
- The Plenary Assembly will appoint a Chairman to lead the activities
of the TV Anytime Forum for a term of office not exceeding 14 months. The
Plenary Assembly may similarly appoint one or more Vice-Chairmen if it decides
that is appropriate. The Plenary Assembly will similarly appoint a
Treasurer, whose responsibilities will be to oversee the finances of the Forum
and to provide an annual report to the Membership. Re-appointment of
these officers is possible.
- The day-to-day activities of the Forum may be undertaken by a number
of Working Groups. The Plenary Assembly will appoint Convenors to lead these
Working Groups.
- Decisions will normally be made on the basis of consensus. Where
consensus cannot be achieved, a vote can be taken on the basis of one vote per
Member.
- Proposals for changes to this Memorandum of Understanding must be
notified to all Members at least one calendar month before the Plenary Assembly
is due to consider the changes. The changes will be adopted if at least 2/3 of
votes cast by the Members present at the Plenary Assembly or represented by
proxies are in favour, ignoring any abstentions or invalid votes. The changes
will have immediate effect, but will not be binding on those Members who send
their resignations to the Chairman within one month of the date of the
changes.
- The Plenary Assembly will establish working procedures, including
voting rules. These procedures, consistent with the Memorandum of
Understanding, will be adopted or changed by the Plenary Assembly duly convened
if at least 2/3 of votes cast by the Members present at the Plenary Assembly
are in favour, ignoring any abstentions or invalid
votes.
- Any form of anti-competitive behaviour is absolutely prohibited
within the activities of the TV Anytime Forum.
- Each representative attending a meeting of the TV Anytime Forum may
be required to pay a fee as a contribution to the costs of the
meeting.
- All information that is disclosed during the activities of the TV
Anytime Forum is assumed to be in the public domain.
- All patents, copyrights or other intellectual property owned or
created by any Member shall remain the property of that Member. Such ownership
shall not be affected in any way by the Member's participation in the TV
Anytime Forum, unless the Member specifically agrees
otherwise.
- Each Member hereby agrees that it will grant licences for the use of
its intellectual property relating to any essential technology included in
specifications agreed by the TV Anytime Forum on fair, reasonable and
non-discriminatory terms and conditions.
- The Forum may be dissolved by the Plenary Assembly if at least 2/3 of
votes cast by the Members present at the Plenary Assembly are in favour,
ignoring any abstentions or invalid votes. Any proposal for dissolution
of the Forum requires the support of at least 8 Members and must be notified to
all Members at least one calendar month before the Plenary Assembly can
consider the proposal. In the event of dissolution of the Forum, any
remaining assets shall be allocated to a not-for-profit purpose on the
understanding that the Members expressly waive any payment from the assets of
the Forum.
On
behalf of ________________________________________, I accept membership of the
TV Anytime Forum and agree to the terms and conditions stated in this
Memorandum of Understanding
Signature: _________________________ Date: __________
Printed name: ________________________________________
Job Title: ________________________________________
Address:
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
Telephone:
________________________________________
Fax:
________________________________________
E-mail:
________________________________________
Primary point of contact for TV-Anytime Forum
activities:
Job Title: ________________________________________
Address:
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
Telephone:
________________________________________
Fax:
________________________________________
E-mail:
________________________________________
Please send the signed and completed form to the TV-Anytime
Secretariat:
Elisabeth Ecoffey
EBU / UER
17A Ancienne
Rte
CP 45
CH - 1218
Grand-Saconnex/GE
Geneva
Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 717 27 23
Fax: +41 22 747 47
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