As Violations to SAE’s IP Rights Increase, Resolution Efforts Follow

WARRENDALE, Pa. (February 23, 2022) - SAE International^®, in the course of serving its mission to advance mobility knowledge and solutions for the benefit of humanity, creates numerous copyrighted works and owns various trademarks, patents and other valuable intellectual property rights related to its technical standards, publications, training courses and a wide-range of additional products in the aerospace, automotive and commercial-vehicle industries and allied technology domains. SAE considers its intellectual property (IP) in these areas among its most valuable assets and is increasing its efforts to protect it.

“With the vast amount of advanced technical content SAE produces, SAE’s IP portfolio is growing significantly and we invest considerable resources on it,” said Raman Venkatesh, executive vice president and chief operating officer, SAE International.  “As violations are discovered, we work with our internal legal team, as well as outside counsel when necessary, to work towards an amicable solution that advances our mission while protecting SAE’s IP.” 

SAE’s J3016™ Levels of Driving Automation is an example of SAE IP that is often used and referenced by other organizations and individuals in various papers, presentations, media reports, videos and other information sources.  SAE permits this chart (Shown Here) to be used freely, so long as it is used AS-IS and appropriate attribution is given to SAE International. 

When referencing a level in this chart, SAE should be included as a prefix. The proper use (for any level number) would be SAE Level # or SAE International’s Level #.  Simply calling ‘Level #’ or ‘L#’ are examples of unacceptable use, in violation of SAE’s IP policy. 

“SAE was recently notified that an organization had improperly created and distributed a derivative work based on SAE’s J3016™ Levels of Driving Automation chart,” said Greg Bradley, general counsel, SAE International. “We took swift and appropriate action to ensure that the improper use was resolved and will continue to do so as these matters arise.”

For complete details of SAE’s IP policy, please visit: https://www.sae.org/about/legal-policies/intellectual-property.


About SAE International
SAE International is a global organization committed to advancing mobility knowledge and solutions for the benefit of humanity. By engaging nearly 200,000 engineers, technical experts and volunteers, we connect and educate mobility professionals to enable safe, clean, and accessible mobility solutions. We act on two priorities: encouraging a lifetime of learning for mobility engineering professionals and setting the standards for industry engineering. We strive for a better world through the work of our philanthropic SAE Foundation, including award-winning programs like A World In Motion® and the Collegiate Design Series™. More at http://www.sae.org.

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Contact:
Jeff Laskowski
SAE International
248.925.4770
pr@sae.org