Becoming a JCP Member: Instructions for Individuals

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Corporate vs Individual Membership

One can join the JCP by joining as a company or organization, or by joining as an individual. Aside from the difference in membership fee there are other significant differences that you should consider. Individual membership means that you are joining on personal title, representing yourself and not representing your company or employer. This means for example, that you cannot make contributions on behalf of your company nor can you share with your employer anything that you learned within the JCP. 

Individuals may become Members (representing themselves unaffiliated with any company) by doing all of the following:

1. Register for the site if you don't already have an account.
2. Log on to jcp.org with your account.
3. Fill out the JSPA form for individuals (Acrobat reader required). Note that you must enter your own address and contact information in the form, even under "Billing Address." You will not be billed, as there is no charge for individual Membership.
4. Submit the JSPA form, which will generate a .pdf file for you to print.
5. Print the resulting .pdf of the JSPA.
6. Fill out the remaining portion of the JSPA by hand:
   • On page 3, put your initials next to "Individual representing self", under Section 3, "Process Cost Sharing". DO NOT put your initials in any other blank in this section.What are initials?
     "Initials" here means the first letter of your first/given and last/family name. For example, if your name was "John Cooper," your initials would be "JC." Here's an example (click to enlarge):
     
   • On page 10, fill in the blanks under "Member." Sign your name next to "Signature." Print your name legibly next to "Name." "Title" is optional - this refers to your job title, but feel free to leave it blank. "Date" should be the date that you sign the agreement. Here's an example (click to enlarge):
      
7. Have your employer fill out Exhibit B. Employers fill out Exhibit B to acknowledge their awareness of your participation in the JCP and the intellectual property rules of the JSPA. The employer need not specify a JSR if you are not trying to join an Expert Group. If you are applying or planning to apply to join an Expert Group, your employer should specify that JSR in the Exhibit B. Note: If you are self-employed, then you are your employer.
8. Read and then confirm that you have read "Corporate vs. Individual Membership", above. An e-mail confirmation sent to pmo@jcp.org will suffice for this.
9. Submit the completed JSPA and Exhibit B to the PMO per the instructions on submitting the JSPA. Please make sure to submit all 12 pages back to the PMO. Partial submission or incomplete submission cannot be accepted and will not be processed until it is complete.
    

Note that if you are applying to join an Expert Group, you will be asked to submit an Exhibit B signed by your employer for that JSR.
 
If you are unclear about where to put particular information or how to fill out the JSPA or the Exhibit B, please refer to this sample Individual JSPA. This includes two versions of the Exhibit B: one filled out by an employer just for a JCP Membership, the other filled out by an employer for a specific JSR.
 
If you have any questions about filling out an agreement or the Java Community Process in general, please contact the Program Management Office as per the instructions on the PMO contacts page.