F-ACT 1.0 · Version 1.0 · Effective upon publication
Anyone may use, implement, build on, or require the core claims of F-ACT — including L3 Provable — without a licence and without asking, for any purpose and by any method. Conformance is one use among many, not a condition.
Society OS Pty Ltd (“Society OS”), as current owner of the core patent claims, pledges not to assert those claims against any person or organisation that uses, implements, builds on, distributes, or requires the normative requirements of the Framework for Agent Conformance & Trust (F-ACT) specification, version 1.0 and any subsequent version published under this pledge. The pledge covers any use of the core claims — including, but not limited to, conformance. It is irrevocable, royalty-free, and worldwide, and it binds every successor and assign, including the Society OS Foundation to which the core claims are being transferred (see “Who holds the core claims”).
The pledge covers any use of the core claims of F-ACT — the observable, checkable outcomes published in the specification: the five governance clauses (Authority, Scope, Data, Audit, Revocation) and the requirement that every agent answer them; the four conformance tiers (L0 Unattested, L1 Declared, L2 Enforced, L3 Provable) and the criteria that define each tier; and the defining principle that policy must be enforced before execution, not observed after it. Conformance is one covered use among many — you do not need to conform to benefit from this pledge.
This pledge does not extend to specific implementations, architectures, or mechanisms that are not required by the F-ACT specification. Society OS holds separate intellectual property — including trade secrets, know-how, and a pending patent application (AU provisional 2026900773, filed 2 Feb 2026, unexamined) — covering particular methods of achieving conformance; that IP is not transferred to the Foundation. The distinction is simple: the standard says what must be true; the operational IP protects how Society OS does it. You are free to meet the standard by any method.
The core claims are being placed with the Society OS Foundation — a neutral Swiss steward being established for this purpose — so that no single company can ever hold a veto over the standard. Until that transfer completes, Society OS Pty Ltd makes this pledge as the current owner and it binds every successor and assign, so the guarantee holds continuously across the transfer. The Foundation licenses the core claims back to Society OS Pty Ltd on a non-exclusive basis — the identical terms available to anyone else. There is no exclusive lock and no special deal: the company competes on the merit of its products and its operational IP, never on a structural chokehold over the rules.
The pledge terminates automatically, and only, with respect to any party that (a) asserts a patent claim against Society OS or any other F-ACT implementer alleging that implementing F-ACT infringes that party’s patents, or (b) files or maintains a legal action challenging the validity of any Society OS patent. This is a standard defensive clause: the pledge protects everyone who plays fair, and withdraws only from those who use patents offensively against the community the standard serves.
Conformance to F-ACT is self-assessed or independently verified — it is never granted or withheld by Society OS. This pledge does not create a certification programme or require any registration. If you meet a tier’s criteria, you conform.
This pledge is binding on Society OS and its successors, assigns, and any entity that acquires the relevant patents — expressly including the Society OS Foundation once the transfer of the core claims completes. It survives any change of ownership, so the guarantee never lapses in the handover from company to Foundation.
A standard is only as trustworthy as the guarantee that using it will not trigger a patent suit from the people who wrote it. This pledge removes that risk entirely — not just for conformance, but for any use of the core claims — and placing those claims with a neutral Swiss foundation removes the deeper fear that the guarantee could be revoked once adoption is locked in. Society OS keeps only its separate operational IP (trade secrets, know-how and a pending patent application) and a non-exclusive licence, the same one available to everyone else. The result: the standard is genuinely open, cannot be taken back, and the implementation is still genuinely protected — no one needs to wonder which side of the line they are on.
Pledged today by Society OS Pty Ltd as current owner · To be held and maintained by the Society OS Foundation as neutral steward · Non-exclusive, universally implementable, irrevocable.