Open Web Foundation

What Open Web Foundation does

The Open Web Foundation is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation incorporated in Delaware on August 25, 2008, founded by David Recordon and announced at OSCON 2008. It provides a reusable legal framework for the development and licensing of open, non-proprietary web specifications, following the open-source model exemplified by the Apache Software Foundation. The foundation's core deliverables are two families of legal agreements: Contributor License Agreements (CLAs) for the development phase of specifications, and Open Web Foundation Agreements (OWFa) for final specifications. Each family is available in multiple versions (0.9 Necessary Claims and 1.0 Granted Claims) and in variants covering copyright-only, patent-only, or combined copyright-and-patent grants, allowing adopters to select the appropriate instrument for their situation. The agreements are designed to remove the legal friction that otherwise forces specification communities to negotiate bespoke licensing terms for each project.

The foundation is governed by a member-elected Board of Directors and operates through volunteer committees (Legal Affairs, Elections, Infrastructure) and open Google Groups mailing lists. Membership is free and open to anyone, with nearly 100 individual members recorded. Major enterprise adopters who have published specifications under OWFa include Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Mozilla, IBM, VMware, PayPal, LinkedIn, AOL, Salesforce.com, Cisco, and PingIdentity, covering prominent protocols such as OAuth, Open Graph Protocol, Activity Streams, PubSubHubbub, Salmon Protocol, DMARC, OStatus, and Simple Cloud Identity Management. The foundation holds no capital stock, generates no revenue from membership or product fees, and is prohibited from distributing net earnings to members or directors.

The business model is a community-led non-profit with no traditional revenue streams. Distribution is self-serve via the openwebfoundation.org website, where all legal templates are freely downloadable. The last significant milestone in the source data is the publication of the OWFa and CLA 1.0 Agreements in March 2011, after which there is no documented product, funding, or partnership activity. The organization operates with a small board and no disclosed staff, functioning as a lightweight legal infrastructure provider for the open web standards ecosystem.

Name

Open Web Foundation

Legal name

The Open Web Foundation

Website

https://openwebfoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Open Web Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, founded in 2008 and incorporated in Delaware, that provides reusable legal agreements (CLAs and OWF Agreements) for the development and licensing of open web specifications, serving specification communities and major technology companies including Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Open Standards Legal Framework

NAICS

Lessors of Nonfinancial Intangible Assets (except Copyrighted Works) (5331), Other Legal Services (54119)

SIC

Patent Owners & Lessors (6794), Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAGAJAO

OER Licensing, Rights & Open Policy Support (Creative Commons)

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Open Educational Resources (OER) & Open Textbooks

Keywords

• Open specification licensing
• Contributor license agreements
• Open web standards
• Patent and copyright grants
• Open source legal framework

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership (Free): The foundation is open to everyone without charge. Membership is free for individuals who wish to join and participate in the organization's governance and activities.
2. Individual Membership: Nearly one-hundred individual members with free membership. Membership grants voting rights and participation in board elections.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Open Web Foundation provides a modular set of standardized, reusable legal agreements — Contributor License Agreements (CLAs) for the development phase and Open Web Foundation Agreements (OWFas) for final specifications — that govern copyright and patent licensing for community-driven web specifications. The agreements are freely available in multiple versions (0.9 Necessary Claims and 1.0 Granted Claims), with variants covering copyright-only, patent-only, or combined grants, and are accompanied by plain-language "Deeds." They enable specification communities and corporations to publish and implement open web protocols without negotiating bespoke licensing terms each time.

Product overview

Open Web Foundation is a non-profit organization providing a modular legal framework of agreements for the development and licensing of open web specifications. The portfolio consists of two main agreement types: Contributor License Agreements (CLAs) for the development phase and Open Web Foundation Agreements (OWFa) for final specifications. The CLAs enable collaborative specification development by establishing copyright and patent terms for contributions, while the OWFas grant comprehensive rights to implementers of finished specifications. Both agreement types are available in multiple versions (0.9 and 1.0) with varying scopes (copyright-only, patent-only, or combined patent and copyright).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• OWFa 1.0 (Patent and Copyright) The Open Web Foundation Agreement 1.0 providing both copyright and patent grants for final specifications ready for deployment, allowing anyone to freely implement, use, and distribute implementations of the specification.
• OWFa 1.0 (Patent Only) A version of the OWFa 1.0 that provides only patent grants without copyright terms, suitable for use where copyright is covered by another agreement or when a different copyright license is desired.
• OWFa 0.9 (Necessary Claims) The original Open Web Foundation Agreement version 0.9 containing both copyright and patent grants for specifications ready for deployment or currently in use, using the 'Necessary Claims' terminology.
• OWF CLA 1.0 - Copyright and Patent Contributor License Agreement 1.0 covering both copyright and patent grants, intended for the development phase of specification projects. Signers grant rights to their contributions while retaining limited 45-day opt-out provisions.
• OWF CLA 1.0 - Copyright Only Contributor License Agreement 1.0 covering copyright grants only, without patent provisions. Designed for specification development phases where patent considerations are not yet required.
• OWF CLA 0.9 (Copyright Grant) The original Contributor License Agreement version 0.9 providing copyright grants for contributions during the development phase of specifications, with the goal of producing final specifications under OWFa.

Quantifiable outcome

• Break the trend of creating separate legal entities for individual specifications

Named customers9 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• FacebookcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 November 2009Facebook committed to apply the OWFa to OAuth Core 1.0 Revision A and OAuth WRAP 0.9 specifications, indicating strategic support for open web specification standards.
• GooglecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 November 2009Google committed to apply the OWFa to OAuth Core 1.0 Revision A, OAuth WRAP 0.9, PubSubHubbub, and Salmon Protocol specifications, showing commitment to open web standards.
• MicrosoftcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 November 2009Microsoft committed to apply the OWFa to OAuth WRAP 0.9, OpenService Format Specification, WebSlice Format Specification, XML Search Suggestions Format Specification, and Simple Web Tokens 0.9.
• YahoocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 November 2009Yahoo committed to apply the OWFa to Media RSS 1.5.0, OAuth Core 1.0 Revision A, and OAuth WRAP 0.9 specifications.
• MozillacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMozilla uses OWFa 1.0 agreement for Activity Streams specification, contributing to open web interoperability standards.
• IBMcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIBM uses OWFa 1.0 agreement for Activity Streams specification, supporting open web standards development.
• VMwarecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVMware uses OWFa 1.0 agreement for Activity Streams specification, supporting open web standards.
• PayPalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPayPal uses OWFa 1.0 agreement for DMARC specification, contributing to email security standards.
• LinkedIncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLinkedIn uses OWFa 1.0 agreement for DMARC specification, contributing to email security standards.
• AOLcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAOL uses OWFa 1.0 agreement for DMARC specification.
• Salesforce.comcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSalesforce.com participates in Simple Cloud Identity Management specification under OWF agreement.
• CiscocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCisco participates in Simple Cloud Identity Management specification under OWF agreement.
• PingIdentitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPingIdentity participates in Simple Cloud Identity Management specification under OWF agreement.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Emerging players

• Mozilla Foundation: Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit that stewards the open web and acts as a corporate member adopting OWF agreements (e.g., for Activity Streams). Mozilla is both a peer advocate of open web standards and an OWF-affiliated adopter of its legal framework.

Direct peers

• Software Freedom Conservancy: Software Freedom Conservancy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that provides fiscal and legal infrastructure for open source projects. OWF performs an analogous role for open specifications, providing the legal and organizational scaffolding that specification communities need to operate.
• Apache Software Foundation: Open Web Foundation explicitly models itself on the Apache Software Foundation. ASF provides legal/governance infrastructure for open source projects; OWF provides equivalent infrastructure for open web specifications, both running as member-governed 501(c)(3) nonprofits with free participation.
• Creative Commons: Creative Commons provides standardized open licenses for creative and educational content (CC BY, CC0, etc.) via a non-profit model. OWF parallels this approach for web specifications, providing reusable legal templates that communities adopt rather than negotiating bespoke agreements.

Broad incumbents

• OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards): OASIS is a standards consortium that develops open standards for the information society with its own IPR policy. OWF and OASIS both serve as homes for open specifications, though OWF's free, community-driven model contrasts with OASIS's member-funded structure.
• Linux Foundation: Linux Foundation hosts major open source projects and specifications with neutral governance. OWF's model for legal stewardship of open web work overlaps with Linux Foundation projects (e.g., OpenAPI under Linux Foundation's OpenAPI Initiative) that similarly need pre-built patent/copyright frameworks.
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C): W3C is the dominant international standards body for web technologies, with its own patent policy (Royalty-Free licensing), Member-only process, and full-time staff. OWF serves as a complementary lightweight alternative for specifications that don't fit the W3C process but require similar legal infrastructure.
• Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF): IETF develops internet standards (e.g., OAuth was shepherded through IETF) with its own IPR policies (RFC 8179). Specifications like OAuth that originated under OWF moved to IETF, illustrating how OWF's legal framework can seed work that later graduates to IETF's larger standards process.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/openwebfoundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Open Web Foundation