Licensing of Intellectual Property
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List of Licensed Partners

 

Results-Based Accountability TM (RBA)
Outcomes-Based Accountability TM (OBA)

 

Intellectual Property Licensing Fee Requirements for Consultants

 

Summary:

 

This document sets out licensing and fee requirements for the use of RBA/OBA intellectual property. RBA/OBA intellectual property includes material authored by Mark Friedman, including the book "Trying Hard Is Not Good Enough," the websites www.resultsaccountability.com and www.raguide.org, and numerous papers on the topics of management, budgeting, planning and accountability dating back to 1993.

 

Except as noted below, RBA/OBA intellectual property is free for use (with attribution) by government and nonprofit or voluntary sector organizations. There is a similar exemption for small for-profit consulting groups as outlined below. Larger for-profit organizations are required to pay an annual fee for use of RBA/OBA intellectual property based on the size of the organization.
These requirements take effect for calendar year 2010.

 

A. Basic Principles:

 

1. Public Good Part 1: The single most important purpose of RBA/OBA is to improve the lives of children, adults, families and communities. For this reason, RBA/OBA has been and always will be free for use by government and nonprofit/voluntary sector organizations.
2. Public Good Part 2: Small consulting organizations often provide services to community-based organizations that would not be affordable at the rates charged by larger organizations. Such small organizations are an important to the growth and development of RBA/OBA around the world. Such organizations will typically have less ability to pay licensing fee.s And the transaction costs involved in collecting the fees would be disproportional to the amount of the fees. For this reason, small for-profit organizations should also have free access to the use of RBA/OBA.
3. Fairness Part 1: Large for-profit organizations that use RBA/OBA to generate revenue should pay a fair share of their profits for the use of RBA/OBA intellectual property.
4. Fairness Part 2: Nonprofit organizations that charge a fee for consulting services are essentially indistinguishable from for-profit organizations and should be treated as such.
5. Quality Part 1: Licensing fee agreements should promote the quality of RBA/OBA practice and should not restrict competition.
6. Quality Part 2: In order to assure quality of RBA/OBA work, FPSI must retain the right to refuse to permit any organization to use RBA/OBA intellectual property.
6. Clarity and Simplicity: To the extent possible, any licensing arrangement should be easy to understand. The easiest things to count in any organization are number of people and gross revenues. There is a tradeoff between simplicity and precision. It is better to err on the side of simplicity.

 

B. Size of Covered Organizations:

 

1. Small organizations: The general he purpose of the exemption for small organizations is to protect small consulting groups from any fee obligation. For purposes of clarity and simplicity this is converted into a gross revenue amount of US$500,000 per year. (Note: all dollar references are US dollars or their converted equivalent.)
2. Large organizations: Larger organizations are those with gross revenues above $500,000 per year. Larger for-profit organizations should pay fees in relationship to their ability to pay. This is based on a stepped graduation in size above $500,000. The size of the organization is based on the size of the largest parent organization within which the actual consulting practice is located.

 

C. Mandatory fee calculations Part 1:

 

The annual fee obligation for a large for-profit consulting organization will be determined by two factors: gross revenue and the number of employees who spend the equivalent of two full days (16 hours) or more using RBA/OBA intellectual property in their work during the year. Licensing fees will be paid on a “look back” basis, that is on revenue and employee counts from the year ending December 31st or the end of the fiscal year of the organization. Licensing fees will be payable 45 days after the end of the calendar or fiscal year. First payments will be due February 15, 2011 or 6 weeks following the end of the fiscal year.

 

D. Mandatory fee calculations Part 2:

1. Any organization with gross revenues in excess of US$ 500,000 but less than $1,000,000 will be required to pay US$1,000 per year for each employee meeting the test in C. above.
2. Any organization with gross revenues of at least US$ 1,000,000 but less than US$ 5,000,000 will be required to pay US$2,000 per year for each employee meeting the test in C. above.
3. Any organization with gross revenues above US$ 5,000,000 will be required to pay US$4,000 per year for each employee meeting the test in C. above.
E. Benefits of Licensing:

 

Organizations entering into a licensing agreement will receive:

 

1. Permission to use the phrase “Licensed to use RBA/OBA” in their promotional material.
2. A listing on the FPSI and RLG websites of licensed organizations or individuals along with contact information. Such listing is not an endorsement of the organization or its work.
3. 10% discount on book and DVD orders from RLG.

 

F. Voluntary Registration and Voluntary Fees:

 

Smaller organizations may pay a voluntary licensing fee of US$250 per year, for which they receive the benefits described in section E. above.

 

G. Method of agreement and payment:

 

1. RLG will act as the licensing agent on behalf of FPSI.
2. To the extent possible both the agreement and the payment will be automated on line at the RLG website. Except as provided in section I below, licensing agreements will automatically renew. However annual payment amounts may vary as organizational gross revenue or employee counts change.
3. The licensing agreement will contain language committing the organization to
a. Full attribution of all RBA/OBA ideas to Mark Friedman and the book "Trying Hard Is Not Good Enough."
b. Maintain the intellectual integrity and coherence of RBA/OBA. This means that RBA/OBA ideas may not be combined with ideas from other frameworks and used under the name RBA/OBA or a separate name.

 

H. Open Enrollment Workshop Exception: Any organization that delivers an RBA/OBA open enrollment workshop that requires payment for registration must pay an additional licensing fee of $1000 per workshop.

 

I. Denial or Termination of Permission to use RBA/OBA

 

1. FPSI may at its sole discretion refuse to enter into a licensing agreement or renew a licensing agreement with any organization.
2. FPSI may terminate a licensing agreement during the period of the agreement for cause.
3. FPSI may at its sole discretion withdraw permission to use RBA/OBA intellectual property from any organization, including government and nonprofit organizations.
4. FPSI reserves the right to refuse voluntary registration or to prohibit the use of RBA/OBA intellectual property by any small for-profit organization.

 

J. Exceptions: An organization may request exceptions from these rules based on demonstrated hardship. FPSI will consider exceptions to these rules on a case by case basis.

 

K. Amendments: These rules are subject to amendment. Notices of amendments will be posted on the FPSI and RLG websites.

 

L. Comments or Questions about these requirements may be addressed to:

 

Mark Friedman
Fiscal Policy Studies Institute
7 Avenida Vista Grande #140
Santa Fe, NM 87508
505-466-3284
xfpsi@aol.com

or

 

Adam Luecking
Results Leadership Group, LLC
"The Nation's Leading Results-Based Accountability™ Resource"
7960 Old Georgetown Road, Suite 10-C
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-907-7541 Office
301-907-7545 Fax
301-775-2979 Cell
adam@resultsleadership.org