• Program Overview
• Program Documentation
• Trademark Licensing Fees
• Maximum Annual Trademark License Fees for Members
• Adding Products to a Trademark License during a Licensee's Trademark License Year
• Go to the CITE Portal (online testing site)

Compliance Testing Program Overview

The purpose of the OGC Compliance Testing Program is to permit vendors and users to take advantage of the standards that OGC has created. The program provides a process for testing compliance of products to OpenGIS^® Implementation Specifications.

When a vendor has completed compliance testing and OGC has confirmed its successful completion, vendors who agree to the terms of the OGC Trademark License Agreement that accompanies this program, and who have paid their trademark license fees, may use OGC's marks (trademarks or certification marks) to indicate to their customers that they have achieved compliance with OpenGIS Implementation Specifications. After a product is verified as passing the compliance tests for a standard, OGC staff generally takes from 1-2 weeks to process the paperwork and issue a certificate of compliance, not including the time for the applicant to submit paperwork and license fees.

OGC compliance tests are available for some but not all OpenGIS Implementation Specifications. OGC is implementing its Compliance Testing Program in phases in step with the maturing of its Implementation Specifications. The current two phases are:

• Compliance Testing: This determines that a product implementation of a particular Implementation Specification fulfills all mandatory elements as specified and that these elements are operable. Compliance testing may become more stringent over time, especially as a particular Implementation Specification matures.

  For example, a more stringent version may test that a product implementation of a particular Implementation Specification fulfills all mandatory and implemented optional elements as specified and that these elements are operable, accurate (to a reasonable level of measure), and that the elements handle all reasonable cases correctly including errors.

  NOTE: Compliance testing WILL NOT ensure, or even test, interoperability of software products. However, as the specifications mature the likelihood of interoperability will be higher.

• Interoperability Testing: OGC's ultimate goal is to provide a process for testing interoperability between compliant products. Interoperability Testing determines that a product implementation of an Implementation Specification interoperates with other product implementations of the same Implementation Specification, different but related Implementation Specification(s), or within a particular computing environment. As envisioned, interoperability testing will be implemented as a service and will not result in the use of OGC marks.

Testing Program Documentation

The document available below describes the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Compliance Testing Program. It defines the approach, including policies and procedures that OGC uses to test software implementations for compliance to its Implementation Specifications. The primary purpose of the testing program, of which this compliance testing program is the first phase, is to permit vendors and users to take advantage of the standards that OGC has created, by providing a process whereby compliance, can be tested. When compliance has been confirmed, participants who agree to the terms of the trademark license that accompanies this Program document may affix OGC's certification mark to their products, thus indicating to their customers that compliance with OGC Implementation Specifications has been achieved and providing incentives for potential customers to preferentially purchase such products. A fully executed OGC Trademark License Agreement, fully paid trademark license fees, and full compliance with the Trademark License Agreement terms are mandatory for an organization to use the "Certified OGC Compliant" mark with its product(s) in any way or to claim "compliance" with OGC Implementation Specifications.

NOTE: When using the OGC Web-based Compliance Testing Engine, submitting your test results electronically is only part of the submission process. Please refer to the documentation linked below for complete instructions on how to submit for OGC compliance.

Trademark Licensing Fees

OGC will not charge a fee for compliance testing under the Testing Procedure.

OGC will charge a fee for trademark licensing for Candidate Products that successfully pass a compliance test under the Testing Procedure; this fee is termed the Trademark Licensing Fee. This fee must be paid by organizations that wish to claim compliance with OGC Implementation Specifications. This fee is not required to initiate and complete a test. The current fee structure is found in the table below and in Appendix G-Trademark Licensing Fees of the Compliance Testing Program document.

OGC will invoice a Candidate Organization that has submitted a Test Summary Report for the Trademark License Fee. This invoice must be paid before OGC will issue a Compliance Certificate and before OGC will deliver a countersigned Trademark License Agreement.

The governing information for Trademark Licensing Fees is contained in Appendix G-Trademark Licensing Fees of the Compliance Testing Program document, from which the information below is taken.

The following schedule defines the annual fees that an organization must pay in order to use the OGC Certification Mark in connection with any of its product that has successfully passed a compliance test under OGC's Compliance Testing Program. The fees described below are subject to change without notice.

Each Licensee pays an annual Trademark License Fee per Product Version, per Implementation Specification tested, and based on the TLA date on which the first Product/Implementation Specification was certified compliant-the "Trademark License Year". The amount of the Trademark License Fee is based upon the Total Gross Annual Revenue ("TGAR") of the parent corporation. The Trademark License Fee is not based on the annual gross revenues of an operating division, a wholly owned subsidiary, or the GIS, geospatial, or software-related revenues of a corporation.

Maximum Annual Trademark License Fees for Members

The OGC Annual Trademark License fee structure includes a maximum ceiling on the payments for Trademark License fees for members at the Technical, Planning, and Strategic levels. Many of our members have multiple products and multiple implementations that could enjoy the benefits of OGC branding and this ceiling rewards those members who participate at the higher levels.

Individual Member: The maximum annual Trademark License Fees that an Individual Member licensee will pay per Trademark License Year is equal to the total number of Product Version/Implementation Specification combinations being trademarked multiplied by the Associate Member fee from the table below.

Associate Member: The maximum annual Trademark License Fees that an Associate Member licensee will pay per Trademark License Year is equal to the total number of Product Version/Implementation Specification combinations being trademarked multiplied by the Associate Member fee from the table below.

Technical Member: The maximum annual Trademark License Fees a Technical Member licensee will pay per Trademark License Year is equal to four times (4X) the Trademark License Fee for its TGAR, even if the Technical Member licensee wishes the Trademark License to cover more than four Product Version/Implementation Specification combinations that have successfully passed compliance testing.

Principal Member: The maximum annual Trademark License Fees a Principal Member licensee will pay is equal to two times (2X) the Trademark License Fee for its TGAR, even if the Principal Member licensee wishes the Trademark License to cover more than two Product Version/Implementation Specification combinations that have successfully passed compliance testing.

Strategic Member: The maximum annual Trademark License Fees a Strategic Member licensee will pay is equal to one time (1X) the Trademark License Fee for its TGAR, even if the Strategic Member licensee wishes the Trademark License to cover more than one Product Version/Implementation Specification combination that has successfully passed compliance testing.

Adding Products to a Trademark License during a Licensee's Trademark License Year

When an existing licensee adds a Product that has successfully passed compliance testing during the Trademark License Year, the appropriate Trademark License Fee for each such Product is pro-rated for the balance of the Trademark License Year on a whole month basis. When the number of Products licensed during a licensee's Trademark License Year exceeds the cap for a licensee's OGC membership level, if applicable, no additional Trademark License Fee is assessed.

Please contact the OGC Compliance Testing Coordinator if you have specific questions concerning the Testing Program.