The Open COVID Coalition publishes standard licenses that can be used by anyone that has adopted the Open COVID Pledge.
Our licenses have many features in common. Every Open COVID License (OCL) grants the public worldwide permission to use the pledgor’s intellectual property rights (copyright and patent rights, or patent rights only) so long as they are used for the purpose of diagnosing, preventing, containing, and treating COVID-19. This is allowable without having to negotiate a special agreement, or pay a royalty or other fee to the patent or copyright holder.
The OCL Licenses
This license grants permission to the worldwide public to exercise all of the pledgor’s patent rights and copyrights, royalty free. This license starts on December 1, 2019, and ends one year after the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declares an end to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This license grants the same permissions as its earlier version except that its termination date is fixed at the earlier of the WHO declaration that the COVID-19 pandemic has ended, or January 1, 2023, whichever happens first. The pledgor may grant an extension of that final date.
This license grants the same permission as OCL-PC v1.1, but is limited to patent rights only.
Compatible and Alternative Licenses
In addition to the OCL licenses above, we support other licenses that are compatible with the Open COVID Pledge:
- Intel Open COVID License (see statement from Intel here)