IPR J. Halpern, Ed.
Internet-Draft Self
Expires: August 28, 2006 February 24, 2006
Advice to the IAOC on Rights to be Granted in IETF RFCs
draft-ietf-ipr-outbound-rights-00
Status of this Memo
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applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware
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This Internet-Draft will expire on August 28, 2006.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).
Abstract
The IASA is resposible for managing intellectual property rights on
behalf of the IETF. This includes the license to copy, implement and
otherwise use IETF contributions, among them Internet-Drafts and
RFCs. The IASA takes direction from the IETF regarding the rights to
be granted. This document describes the desires of the IETF
regarding rights granted in IETF contributions.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Requirements notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Purpose in Granting Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.1. Specific Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4. Powers and Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5. Recommended Grants of Right to Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5.1. Rights Grented for Reproduction of RFCs . . . . . . . . . . 4
5.2. Rights Granted for Quoting from RFCs . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5.3. Rights Granted for Implementing based on RFCs . . . . . . . 4
5.4. Rights Granted for use of text from RFCs . . . . . . . . . 4
6. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . . . 7
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1. Introduction
Under the current operational and administrative structures, IETF
intellectual property rights are vested in a trust administered by a
board of trustees made up of the members of the IASA. This includes
copyrights in IETF Internet-Drafts and RFCs. The IASA is therefore
responsible for defining the rights to copy granted to people who
wish to make use of the material in these documents.
The IASA has indicated, as is consistent with the IETF structure,
that it will respect the wishes of the IETF in regard to what these
rights ought to be. It is therefore the IETFs responsibility to
articulate those wishes. This document represents the wishes of the
IETF regarding RFCs, until it is superceded.
2. Requirements notation
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in [1].
This section is retained for now in case it turns out that these
terms are needed. If, as seems likely to the editor, these are not
needed, the section and the normative reference will be removed.
3. Purpose in Granting Rights
In providing a description of the wishes of the IETF with regard to
rights granted in RFCs, it is helpful to keep in mind the purpose of
granting such rights.
The IETF exists to provide standards which are helpful to the good
operation of the Internet. These standards are published as RFCs.
These publications primary value is in the ability of implementors to
build solutions (products, software, etc) using these standards which
interoperate. Hence, the IETF has a strong interest in seeing
accurate, interoperable implementations of the material we publish.
We grant rights to copy to people to make use of the text in the RFCs
in order to encourage accurate and interoperable implementations.
3.1. Specific Issues
There are a number of specific concerns that have been raised over
time, which this document acknowledges and addresses.
[Editor's note: Concerns go here.]
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4. Powers and Authority
As stated in the introduction, the legal authority for determining
and granting rights to copy in RFCs rests with the trustees for the
IETF trust, which is made up of the members of the IASA. This
document provides guidance to that body, based on the rough consensus
of the IETF. The IASA, in conjunction with legal counsel has the
authority and responsibility to determine the exact copyright text
needed in Internet-Drafts and RFCs to meet these needs.
5. Recommended Grants of Right to Copy
In principle, different grants of rights to copy can be granted to
individuals based on the purpose or use being made, and the
particular material being copied. This section contains subsections
for each such different grant that is currently envisioned. Each
section is intended to describe a particular problem / situation /
usage, to describe how that situation is recognizable, and to provide
guidance to the IASA as to what rights the IETF would like to see
granted in that circumstances, and what limitations should be put on
such granting.
In structuring these desires, it is to be kept in mind that the autor
has not given up his copyright in granting rights to the IETF, and
the IETF is not attempting to transfer or relinquish the rights it
has. The purpose is to enable to IASA to grant people the right to
make copies of material in RFCs in ways that fit the goals of the
IETF.
[Editors note: This structure will likely change as working group
consens emerges on the rights to be granted.]
5.1. Rights Grented for Reproduction of RFCs
It has long been IETF policy to encourage copying of RFCs in full.
This permits wide dissemination of the material, without risking loss
of context or meaning. The IETF wishes to continue to permit anyone
to make full copies of RFCs.
5.2. Rights Granted for Quoting from RFCs
5.3. Rights Granted for Implementing based on RFCs
5.4. Rights Granted for use of text from RFCs
6. References
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6.1. Normative References
[1] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
6.2. Informative References
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Author's Address
Joel M. Halpern (editor)
Self
P. O. Box 6049
Leesburg, VA 20178
US
Email: jmh@joelhalpern.com
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Intellectual Property Statement
The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
Intellectual Property Rights 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; nor does it represent that it has
made any independent effort to identify any such rights. Information
on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be
found in BCP 78 and BCP 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.
The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at
ietf-ipr@ietf.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 (2006). 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.
Acknowledgment
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
Internet Society.
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