A Template for IETF Patent Disclosures and Licensing Declarations
draft-ietf-ipr-template-09

IPR WG                                                               
   Internet-Draft                                       V. See (editor) 
   Document: draft-ietf-ipr-template-09.txt                   Microsoft 
   Expires: October 28, 2004                                 April 2004 
    
    
     A Template for IETF Patent Disclosures and Licensing Declarations 
    
    
Status of this Memo 
    
   By submitting this Internet-Draft, I certify that any applicable 
   patent or other IPR claims of which I am aware have been disclosed, 
   and any of which I become aware will be disclosed, in accordance with
   RFC 3668. 
    
   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering 
   Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that 
   other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-
   Drafts. 
    
   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any 
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference 
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." 
    
   The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at 
   http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt 
    
   The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at 
   http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. 
    
   This Internet-Draft will expire on October 2, 2004 
    
Copyright Notice 
    
   Copyright (C) The Internet Society 2004. All Rights Reserved.  
    
    
Abstract 
    
   This document describes a proposal for one form of a template for 
   IETF patent disclosures and licensing declarations. The optional use 
   of this template is meant to simplify the process of such disclosures
   and licensing declarations and to assist disclosers in providing the 
   necessary information to meet the obligations documented in RFC 3668.
    
    
    
    
 
 
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Table of Contents 
    
   1. Introduction...................................................2 
   2. The Patent Disclosure and Licensing Declaration Template.......2 
   3. Commentary on Terms Used in the Template.......................6 
   Security Considerations...........................................7 
   Normative References..............................................7 
   Acknowledgments...................................................8 
   Authors' Addresses................................................8 
   Intellectual Property Statement...................................8 
   Disclaimer of Validity............................................9 
   Copyright Statement...............................................9 
    
    
1. Introduction 
    
   RFC 3668 [i] documents the current IETF policies and obligations with
   respect to disclosure of patents and patent applications. It also 
   documents the information requested in licensing declarations for 
   IETF specifications. In the interest of making these patent 
   disclosure and licensing declaration processes simpler, this document
   proposes a patent disclosure and licensing declaration template that 
   may be optionally used as one method for IETF participants and patent
   holders to comply with patent disclosure requirements and licensing 
   declaration provisions under RFC 3668. This proposal also may be 
   optionally used as a model by the IETF Secretariat for Web-based 
   disclosure and licensing declaration tools; however, the intent of 
   this document is informational and is not meant to suggest that this 
   is the only method that could be used by IETF participants for 
   disclosure of patents or for licensing declarations. For the latest 
   information on how to submit a patent disclosure or licensing 
   declaration, please see http://www.ietf.org/ipr-instructions. 
    
    
2. The Patent Disclosure and Licensing Declaration Template 
    
   START OF TEMPLATE 
    
   This document is an IETF Patent Disclosure and Licensing Declaration 
   Template and is submitted to inform the IETF of a) patent information
   regarding the IETF document or contribution listed in Section IV, and
   b) a Patent Holder's intention with respect to the licensing of its 
   necessary patent claims. No actual license is implied by submission 
   of this template. Please complete and submit a separate template for 
   each IETF document or contribution to which the disclosed patent 
   information relates. 
    
    
    
 
 
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   I. Patent Holder/Applicant ("Patent Holder") 
    
   Legal Name:  
    
   II. Patent Holder's Contact for License Application 
    
   Name:  
    
   Title: 
    
   Department:  
    
   Address:  
    
    
   Telephone:  
    
   Fax:  
    
   Email:  
    
   III. Contact Information for the IETF Participant Whose Personal 
   Belief Triggered the Disclosure in this Template (Optional) 
    
   Name:  
    
   Title: 
    
   Department:  
    
   Address:  
    
    
   Telephone:  
    
   Fax:  
    
   Email:  
    
   IV. IETF Document or Contribution to Which Patent Disclosure Relates
    
    
   Title:  
    
    
   RFC Number or I-D Tag:  
    
    
   Other Designations:  
 
 
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   V. Disclosure of Patent Information (i.e., patents or patent 
   applications required to be disclosed by Section 6 of RFC 3668) 
    
   A. For granted patents or published pending patent applications, 
   please provide the following information: 
    
   Patent, Serial, Publication, Registration, or Application/File 
   number(s): 
    
    
   Date(s) granted or applied for (YYYY-MM-DD):  
    
   Country(ies): 
    
    
   B. Does your disclosure relate to an unpublished pending patent 
   application? 
    
   Select one:  Yes  ______  No ______ 
    
   C. If an Internet-Draft or RFC includes multiple parts and it is not 
   reasonably apparent which part of such Internet-Draft or RFC is 
   alleged to be covered by the patent information disclosed in Section
   V(A) or V(B), it is helpful if the discloser identifies here the 
   sections of the Internet-Draft or RFC that are alleged to be so 
   covered.  
    
    
    
   VI. Licensing Declaration  
    
   The Patent Holder states that its position with respect to licensing 
   any patent claims contained in the patent(s) or patent application(s)
   disclosed above that would necessarily be infringed by implementation
   of the technology required by the relevant IETF specification 
   ("Necessary Patent Claims"), for the purpose of implementing such 
   specification, is as follows (select one licensing declaration option
   only): 
    
   a) ___   No License Required for Implementers 
              Check here if commitment to forgo a license is limited 
              solely to standards-track RFCs ___ 
    
   b) ___   Royalty-Free, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory License to 
            All Implementers  
              Check here if this commitment to license is limited solely
              to standards-track RFCs ___ 
 
 
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   c) ___   Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory License to All  
            Implementers with Possible Royalty/Fee 
              Check here if this commitment to license is limited solely
              to standards-track RFCs ___ 
    
   d) ___   Licensing Declaration to be Provided Later (implies a  
            willingness to commit to the provisions of a), b), or c) 
            above; otherwise, the next option - "Unwilling to Commit to
            the Provisions of a), b), or c) Above" - must be selected) 
    
   e) ___   Unwilling to Commit to the Provisions of a), b), or c) 
            Above 
    
   NOTE: The individual submitting this template represents and warrants
   that he or she is authorized by the Patent Holder to agree to the 
   above-selected licensing declaration. 
    
   VII. Contact Information of Submitter of this Form (if different from
   IETF Participant in Section III above) 
    
   Name: 
    
   Title: 
    
   Department: 
    
   Address: 
    
    
   Telephone: 
    
   Fax: 
    
   Email: 
    
   VIII. Other Notes: 
    
    
    
    
    
    
   END OF TEMPLATE 
    
    
    
    

 
 
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3. Commentary on Terms Used in the Template 
    
   Section III requests contact information for the Patent Holder's IETF
   participant whose personal belief that necessary patent claims are 
   implicated by an IETF document or contribution caused this template 
   to be filed. This is an optional section. However, if Section III is
   not completed, then Section VII must be completed. Even if Section 
   III is completed, Section VII must still be completed if the 
   submitter of this template is different from the IETF participant 
   identified in Section III. 
    
   The "Other Designations" field in Section IV may be used to identify
   an IETF contribution (oral or written) other than an Internet-Draft 
   or RFC to which a disclosure is related. 
    
   Here is an explanation of the licensing declaration options in 
   Section VI of the template: 
    
   a) No License Required for Implementers: The Patent Holder does not 
   require parties to acquire any license to its Necessary Patent Claims
   in order to make, have made, use, import, offer to sell, sell, or 
   distribute technology that implements such IETF specification. 
     
   b) Royalty-Free, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory License to All 
   Implementers: The Patent Holder is willing, upon request, to grant a 
   license to its Necessary Patent Claims to all persons on a royalty-
   free basis (i.e., no royalty or other fee) and under other reasonable
   and non-discriminatory terms and conditions, to make, have made, use,
   import, offer to sell, sell, and distribute technology that 
   implements such IETF specification.  
     
   c) Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory License to All Implementers with
   Possible Royalty/Fee: The Patent Holder is willing, upon request, to 
   grant a license to its Necessary Patent Claims to all persons under 
   reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions (which may 
   include a royalty/fee), to make, have made, use, import, offer to 
   sell, sell, and distribute technology that implements such IETF 
   specification. 
    
   d) Licensing Declaration to be Provided Later: The Patent Holder is 
   willing to commit to the provisions of a), b), or c) above, but wants
   to defer its specific selection of one of these licensing declaration
   options until a later point in time (or when asked for this 
   information by the IESG). This option may not be selected if the 
   Patent Holder is unwilling to commit to the provisions of a), b), or
   c) above. In that case, the Patent Holder must select licensing 
   declaration option e) - "Unwilling to Commit to the Provisions of a),
   b), or c) Above." 
    
 
 
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   e) Unwilling to Commit to the Provisions of a), b), or c) Above: The
   Patent Holder indicates an unwillingness to commit to the provisions
   of any of options a), b), or c) described above. 
    
   Options a), b), and c) above also allow the Patent Holder to indicate
   (with a check) whether its licensing declaration is limited solely to
   standards-track RFCs. If left unchecked, the Patent Holder's 
   licensing declaration will be deemed to apply to any implementation 
   of the relevant IETF specification, including non-standards-track 
   documents and Internet-Drafts. However, the Patent Holder may list 
   other conditions or restrictions on its commitment to forego a 
   license (option a)) or on its commitment to license (options b) and 
   c)) in Section VIII - "Other Notes." This standards-track qualifier 
   is not relevant to licensing declaration options d) and e), because 
   under d) the Patent Holder has not yet indicated its specific 
   licensing intention and under e) the Patent Holder has indicated a 
   general refusal to commit to the provisions of any of options a), b),
   or c) above. 
    
   Section VIII in the template, "Other Notes," may be used for any 
   additional information a discloser or Patent Holder wishes to 
   provide. For example, a Patent Holder may use the "Other Notes" 
   Section to indicate any other conditions or restrictions on the 
   licensing declaration option selected in Section VI (e.g., 1) 
   reciprocity, or 2) that a license will only be made available for 
   implementations of any RFC (standards-track or non-standards-track),
   but not for implementations of Internet-Drafts or other documents). 
    
    
    
Security Considerations 
    
   This document relates to IETF process, not any particular technology.
   There are security considerations when adopting any particular 
   technology, regardless of whether patent or patent application 
   disclosures or licensing declarations are implicated by such 
   technology. A working group should take those security considerations
   into account as one part of evaluating the technology, but there are
   no security considerations per se with these IETF processes. 
    
    
Normative References 
    
                     
   i  Bradner, S., "Intellectual Property Rights in IETF Technology," 
      RFC 3668, February 2004. 
    

 
 
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Acknowledgments 
    
   The authors acknowledge the thoughtful contributions of Harald 
   Alvestrand and Scott Bradner to this document. 
    
Authors' Addresses 
    
   Valerie See 
   Microsoft Corporation 
   One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052 USA 
   Email: vsee@microsoft.com 
    
   Robert Barr 
   Cisco Systems, Inc. 
   170 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, CA 95134 USA 
   Email: rbarr@cisco.com 
    
   Scott Brim 
   Cisco Systems, Inc. 
   146 Honess Lane, Ithaca, NY 14850 USA 
   Email: sbrim@cisco.com 
    
   Paul Gleichauf 
   Cisco Systems, Inc. 
   170 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, CA 95134 USA 
   Email: phg@cisco.com 
    
   Allen Lo 
   Juniper Networks 
   1194 North Mathilda Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94089 USA 
   Email: alo@juniper.net 
    
Intellectual Property Statement 
    
   The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any 
   intellectual property or other rights that might be claimed to 
   pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in 
   this document or the extent to which any license under such rights 
   might or might not be available; neither does it represent that it 
   has made any effort to identify any such rights. Information on the 
   IETF's procedures with respect to rights in IETF Documents can be 
   found in BCP 78 and 79.  
    
   Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any 
   assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an 
   attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
   such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this 
   specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
   http://www.ietf.org/ipr. 
 
 
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   The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any 
   copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary 
   rights which may cover technology that may be required to implement 
   this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at ietf-
   ipr.org. 
    
Disclaimer of Validity 
    
   This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
   OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET 
   ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, 
   INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE 
   INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED 
   WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. 
    
Copyright Statement 
 
   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004).  This document is subject
   to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and 
   except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights. 
    
    

 
 
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