Network Working Group S. Bradner
Internet-Draft Harvard University
Editor
October 2005
RFC 3978 Update
<draft-ietf-ipr-rules-update-01.txt>
Status of this Memo
By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any
applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware
have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes
aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79.
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This Internet-Draft will expire on March 10, 2005.
Abstract
This Internet Draft proposes two additions to "IETF Rights in
Contributions" (RFC3978). The first addition permits the extraction
of material from IETF RFCs for a wide range of uses. The second
addition obtains from contributors the right, but not the
requirement, to grant permission to create derivative outside of the
IETF Standards Process.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society. (2005)
1. Introduction
Currently the IETF requires that authors of contributions to the IETF
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grant to the IETF a limited set of non-exclusive rights and
permissions to a document as part of the process of submitting the
contribution. These rights and permissions are detailed in Section
3.3 of "IETF Rights in Contributions" (RFC 3978 - BCP 78) [RFC3978].
This memo updates this section of RFC 3978 to add the rights for the
IETF to 1/ permit the extraction of material from RFCs for a wide
range of uses, and 2/ permit the IETF to grant the right to develop
derivative works in any venue, not limited to within the IETF
Standards Process.
The addition of these rights to those granted by Contributors under
RFC 3978 starts with the publication of this memo as a RFC. This
memo does not retroactively obtain these rights from Contributions
that predate the publication of this memo as a RFC.
2. Extractions from RFCs
Many people have expressed a desire to extract material from IETF
RFCs for use in documentation, textbooks, on-line help systems, and
for similar uses. In addition, some IETF RFCs contain MIBs and other
types of program code that could be compiled. This document updates
RFC RFC3978 to explicitly permit extracting material, without
modification of the text or figures, for such uses. Non-substantive
changes such as changes to fonts, and translations into languages
other than English would be permitted.
2.1 New paragraph 3.3 (c)
This memo replaces paragraph 3.3(a)(E) of RFC 3978 with the
following:
(E) to extract, copy, publish, display, distribute and incorporate
into other works, for any purpose (and not limited to use within
the IETF Standards Process), and to grant third parties
sublicenses to do the same, any portion of the Contribution
without modification (other than non-substantive modifications
such as translation into languages other than English or
compilation of source code statements into executable code), and
further provided that the notices required by Sections 5.4 or 5.6
below, as applicable, are included.
2.2 Reformat a section of the old paragraph 3.3(a)(E)
The patent disclaimer text at the end of 3.3(a)(E) really should
apply to the entire license grant in 3.3(a), and not just the grant
in subparagraph 3.3(a)(E). the following free-standing sentence is
placed at the end of 3.3(a), separated by a carriage return and
space from (E):
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The licenses granted in this Section 3.3(a) shall not be deemed to
grant any right under any patent, patent application or other
similar intellectual property right disclosed by the Contributor
under BCP 79.
2.3 Make clear the right to reprint RFCs
Since the start of the RFC series third parties have been free to
reproduce RFCs as-is or as translations. The permission to do so was
not specifically noted in early RFCs (other than a note to say that
the distribution of the RFC was unlimited). The copyright notice
introduced with RFC 1602 specifically granted these permissions. But
an unintended byproduct of the attempt in BCP 78 to simplify the
copyright statement in published RFCs was the lack of of any specific
statement of these permissions in the RFC copyright notice or in BCP
78. This memo adds the following paragraph to RFC 3978 Section 3.3.
(F) to permit third parties to copy, publish, display and distribute
the Contribution without modification (except for translation into
languages other than English) as part of a full, unmodified RFC
(which may be translated into the same language as such
Contribution), for any purpose, whether or not within the IETF
Standards Process.
Note, of course, that this language itself is not a grant FROM the
IETF to any third party. Rather, it is a grant from the author TO
the IETF. The permission granted by IETF to the world is encapsulated
in the legend that accompanies the RFC series documents:
"Distribution of this memo is unlimited".
To make the permission unambiguous this memo changes the existing
legend to:
Permission is granted to translate this document or portions of
this document into languages other than English. Permission is
also hereby granted to copy, publish, display and distribute this
document or portions of this document, or their translations,
without additional modification.
3. Right to authorize the development of derivative works
Currently the IETF obtains from Contributors the right to prepare
derivative within the IETF Standards Process. This is done in RFC
3978 Section 3.3 (a) (C). This memo proposes to modify that
paragraph to grant the IETF the ability to authorize the preparation
of derivative works without limiting such development to being done
within the IETF Standards Process. This paragraph does not, by
itself, grant any additional permissions outside of the IETF, but
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Internet-Draft RFC 3978 Update October 2005
does empower the IETF, on a case by case basis, to authorize the
development of derivative works, outside of the IETF Standards
Process. One example of where the IETF might grant such a right is
the case where another standards development organization (SDO) wants
to update or extend an IETF technology (which would normally be done
by the SDO sending their requirements to the IETF) but the IETF no
longer has a working group focused on the particular technology and
the IETF does not have the interest to create a new working group.
3.1 Revised Section 3.3 (a) (C)
This memo replaces RFC 3978 Section 3.3 (a) (C) with the following
paragraph:
(C) unless explicitly disallowed in the notices contained in a
Contribution [as per Section 5.2 below],
(1) to prepare derivative works (in addition to translations) that
are based on or incorporate all or part of the Contribution or
comment upon it, within the IETF Standards Process, and
(2) on a case by case basis, to grant third parties the right to
prepare derivative works of the Contribution outside of the IETF
Standards Process and to copy, publish, display and distribute
such derivative works outside the IETF Standards Process, subject
to a requirement to properly acknowledge the IETF,
whereby in each case the license to such derivative works does not
grant any more rights than the license to the original Contribution,
4. References
4.1. Normative References
[RFC 3978] Bradner, S., Ed., "IETF Rights in Contributions", BCP 78,
RFC 3978, March 2005.
5. Editor's Address
Scott Bradner
Harvard University
29 Oxford St.
Cambridge MA, 02138
Phone: +1 617 495 3864
EMail: sob@harvard.edu
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6. Full copyright statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005). 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.
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.
Intellectual Property
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.
Acknowledgement
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
Internet Society.
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