IETF Rights in Contributions
RFC 3978

Network Working Group                                    S. Bradner, Ed.
Request for Comments: 3978                            Harvard University
BCP: 78                                                       March 2005
Obsoletes: 3667
Updates: 2026
Category: Best Current Practice

                      IETF Rights in Contributions

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
   Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).

Abstract

   The IETF policies about rights in Contributions to the IETF are
   designed to ensure that such Contributions can be made available to
   the IETF and Internet communities while permitting the authors to
   retain as many rights as possible.  This memo details the IETF
   policies on rights in Contributions to the IETF.  It also describes
   the objectives that the policies are designed to meet.  This memo
   updates RFC 2026, and, with RFC 3979, replaces Section 10 of RFC
   2026.

Table of Contents

   1.  Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   3.  Rights in IETF Contributions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
       3.1.  General Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
       3.2.  Confidentiality Obligations . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
       3.3.  Granting of Rights and Permissions. . . . . . . . . . .   6
       3.4.  Representations and Warranties. . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
       3.5.  No Duty to Publish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
       3.6.  Trademarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   4.  Rights in RFC Editor Contributions. . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
       4.1.  Requirements from Section 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
       4.2.  Granting of Rights and Permissions. . . . . . . . . . .   8
   5.  Notices Required in IETF Documents. . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
       5.1.  IPR Disclosure Acknowledgement. . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
       5.2.  Derivative Works Limitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10

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       5.3.  Publication Limitation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
       5.4.  Copyright Notice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
       5.5.  Disclaimer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
       5.6.  Exceptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   6.  Notices and Rights Required in RFC Editor Contributions . . .  13
   7.  Exposition of why these procedures are the way they are . . .  13
       7.1.  Rights Granted in IETF Contributions. . . . . . . . . .  13
       7.2.  Rights to use Contributed Material. . . . . . . . . . .  14
       7.3.  Right to Produce Derivative Works . . . . . . . . . . .  14
       7.4.  Rights to use Trademarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
       7.5.  Who Does This Apply To? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
   8.  Contributions Not Subject to Copyright. . . . . . . . . . . .  16
   9.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
   10. References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
       10.1. Normative References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
       10.2. Informative References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
   11. Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
       Editor's Address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
       Full Copyright Statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18

1.  Definitions

   The following definitions are for terms used in the context of this
   document.  Other terms, including "IESG," "ISOC," "IAB," and "RFC
   Editor," are defined in [RFC2028].

   a. "IETF":  In the context of this document, the IETF includes all
      individuals who participate in meetings, working groups, mailing
      lists, functions and other activities which are organized or
      initiated by ISOC, the IESG or the IAB under the general
      designation of the Internet Engineering Task Force or IETF, but
      solely to the extent of such participation.

   b. "IETF Standards Process": the activities undertaken by the IETF in
      any of the settings described in 1(c) below.

   c. "IETF Contribution": any submission to the IETF intended by the
      Contributor for publication as all or part of an Internet-Draft or
      RFC (except for RFC Editor Contributions described below) and any
      statement made within the context of an IETF activity.  Such
      statements include oral statements in IETF sessions, as well as
      written and electronic communications made at any time or place,
      which are addressed to:

      o  the IETF plenary session,
      o  any IETF working group or portion thereof,
      o  the IESG, or any member thereof on behalf of the IESG,
      o  the IAB or any member thereof on behalf of the IAB,

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      o  any IETF mailing list, including the IETF list itself, any
         working group or design team list, or any other list
         functioning under IETF auspices,
      o  the RFC Editor or the Internet-Drafts function (except for RFC
         Editor Contributions described below).

      Statements made outside of an IETF session, mailing list or other
      function, that are clearly not intended to be input to an IETF
      activity, group or function, are not IETF Contributions in the
      context of this document.

   d. "Internet-Draft": temporary documents used in the IETF and RFC
      Editor processes.  Internet-Drafts are posted on the IETF web site
      by the IETF Secretariat and have a nominal maximum lifetime in the
      Secretariat's public directory of 6 months, after which they are
      removed.  Note that Internet-Drafts are archived many places on
      the Internet, and not all of these places remove expired
      Internet-Drafts.  Internet-Drafts that are under active
      consideration by the IESG are not removed from the Secretariat's
      public directory until that consideration is complete.  In
      addition, the author of an Internet-Draft can request that the
      lifetime in the Secretariat's public directory be extended before
      the expiration.

   e. "RFC": the basic publication series for the IETF.  RFCs are
      published by the RFC Editor and once published are never modified.
      (See [RFC2026] Section 2.1)

   f. "RFC Editor Contribution": An Internet-Draft intended by the
      Contributor to be submitted to the RFC Editor for publication as
      an Informational or Experimental RFC but not intended to be part
      of the IETF Standards Process.

   g. "IETF Internet-Drafts": Internet-Drafts other than RFC Editor
      Contributions.  Note that under Section 3.3(a) the grant of rights
      in regards to IETF Internet-Drafts as specified in this document
      is perpetual and irrevocable and thus survives the Secretariat's
      removal of an Internet-Draft from the public directory, except as
      limited by Section 3.3(a)(C).  (See [RFC2026] Sections 2.2 and 8)

   h. "IETF Documents":  RFCs and Internet-Drafts except for Internet-
      Drafts that are RFC Editor Contributions and the RFCs that are
      published from them.

   i. "RFC Editor Documents":  RFCs and Internet-Drafts that are RFC
      Editor Contributions and the RFCs that may be published from them.

   j. "Contribution": IETF Contributions and RFC Editor Contributions.

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   k. "Contributor": an individual submitting a Contribution.

   l. "Reasonably and personally known": means something an individual
      knows personally or, because of the job the individual holds,
      would reasonably be expected to know.  This wording is used to
      indicate that an organization cannot purposely keep an individual
      in the dark about patents or patent applications just to avoid the
      disclosure requirement.  But this requirement should not be
      interpreted as requiring the IETF Contributor or participant (or
      his or her represented organization, if any) to perform a patent
      search to find applicable IPR.

2.  Introduction

   Under the laws of most countries and current international treaties
   (for example the "Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and
   Artistic Work" [Berne]), authors obtain numerous rights in the works
   they produce automatically upon producing them.  These rights include
   copyrights, moral rights and other rights.  In many cases, if the
   author produces a work within the scope of his or her employment,
   most of those rights are usually assigned to the employer, either by
   operation of law or, in many cases, under contract.  (The Berne
   Convention names some rights as "inalienable", which means that the
   author retains them in all cases.)

   This document details the rights that the IETF requires in IETF
   Contributions and rights the IETF, as publisher of Internet-Drafts,
   requires in all such Drafts including RFC Editor Contributions.  The
   RFC Editor may also define additional rights required for RFC Editor
   Contributions.

   In order for works to be used within the IETF Standards Process or to
   be published as Internet-Drafts, certain limited rights in all
   Contributions must be granted to the IETF and Internet Society
   (ISOC).  In addition, Contributors must make representations to IETF
   and ISOC regarding their ability to grant these rights.  These
   necessary rights and representations have until now been laid out in
   Section 10 of [RFC2026].  In the years since [RFC2026] was published
   there have been a number of times when the exact intent of Section 10
   has been the subject of vigorous debate within the IETF community.
   The aim of this document is to clarify various ambiguities in Section
   10 of [RFC2026] that led to these debates and to amplify the policy
   in order to clarify what the IETF is currently doing.

   Section 1 gives definitions used in describing these policies.
   Sections 3, 4, 5, and 6 of this document address the rights in
   Contributions previously covered by Section 10 of [RFC2026] and the
   "Note Well" explanatory text presented at many IETF activities.

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   Sections 7 and 8 then explain the rationale for these provisions,
   including some of the clarifications that have become understood
   since the adoption of [RFC2026].  The rules and procedures set out in
   this document are not intended to substantially modify or alter the
   IETF's current policy toward Contributions.

   A companion document [RFC3979] deals with rights in technologies
   developed or specified as part of the IETF Standards Process.  This
   document is not intended to address those issues.

   The rights addressed in this document fall into the following
   categories:

   o  rights to make use of contributed material
   o  copyrights in IETF documents
   o  rights to produce derivative works
   o  rights to use trademarks

   This document is not intended as legal advice.  Readers are advised
   to consult their own legal advisors if they would like a legal
   interpretation of their rights or the rights of the IETF in any
   Contributions they make.

3.  Rights in IETF Contributions

   The following are the rights the IETF requires in all IETF
   Contributions:

3.1.  General Policy

   In all matters of copyright and document procedures, the intent is to
   benefit the Internet community and the public at large, while
   respecting the legitimate rights of others.

3.2.  Confidentiality Obligations

   No information or document that is subject to any requirement of
   confidentiality or any restriction on its dissemination may be
   submitted as a Contribution or otherwise considered in any part of
   the IETF Standards Process, and there must be no assumption of any
   confidentiality obligation with respect to any Contribution.  Each
   Contributor agrees that any statement in a Contribution, whether
   generated automatically or otherwise, that states or implies that the
   Contribution is confidential or subject to any privilege, can be
   disregarded for all purposes, and will be of no force or effect.

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3.3.  Granting of Rights and Permissions

   By submission of a Contribution, each person actually submitting the
   Contribution, and each named co-Contributor, is deemed to agree to
   the following terms and conditions, and to grant the following
   rights, on his or her own behalf and on behalf of the organization
   the Contributor represents or is sponsored by (if any) when
   submitting the Contribution.

   a. To the extent that a Contribution or any portion thereof is
      protected by copyright and other rights of authorship, the
      Contributor, and each named co-Contributor, and the organization
      he or she represents or is sponsored by (if any) grant a
      perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, world-wide
      right and license to the ISOC and the IETF under all intellectual
      property rights in the Contribution:

      (A) to copy, publish, display, and distribute the Contribution as
          part of the IETF Standards Process or in an Internet-Draft,

      (B) to prepare or allow the preparation of translations of the
          Contribution into languages other than English,

      (C) unless explicitly disallowed in the notices contained in a
          Contribution [as per Section 5.2 below], to prepare derivative
          works (other than translations) that are based on or
          incorporate all or part of the Contribution, or comment upon
          it, within the IETF Standards Process.  The license to such
          derivative works not granting the ISOC and the IETF any more
          rights than the license to the original Contribution,

      (D) to reproduce any trademarks, service marks or trade names
          which are included in the Contribution solely in connection
          with the reproduction, distribution or publication of the
          Contribution and derivative works thereof as permitted by this
          paragraph.  When reproducing Contributions, the IETF will
          preserve trademark and service mark identifiers used by the
          Contributor of the Contribution, including (TM) and (R) where
          appropriate, and

      (E) to extract, copy, publish, display, distribute, modify and
          incorporate into other works, for any purpose (and not limited
          to use within the IETF Standards Process) any executable code
          or code fragments that are included in any IETF Document (such
          as MIB and PIB modules), subject to the requirements of
          Section 5 (it also being understood that the licenses granted
          under this paragraph (E) shall not be deemed to grant any
          right under any patent, patent application or other similar

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          intellectual property right disclosed by the Contributor under
          [RFC3979]).

   b. The Contributor grants the IETF and ISOC permission to reference
      the name(s) and address(es) of the Contributor(s) and of the
      organization(s) s/he represents or is sponsored by (if any).

3.4.  Representations and Warranties

   With respect to each Contribution, each Contributor represents that
   to the best of his or her knowledge and ability:

   a. The Contribution properly acknowledges all major Contributors.  A
      major Contributor is any person who has materially or
      substantially contributed to the IETF Contribution.

   b. No information in the Contribution is confidential and the IETF,
      ISOC, and its affiliated organizations may freely disclose any
      information in the Contribution.

   c. There are no limits to the Contributor's ability to make the
      grants, acknowledgments and agreements herein that are reasonably
      and personally known to the Contributor.

   d. The Contributor has not intentionally included in the Contribution
      any material which is defamatory or untrue or which is illegal
      under the laws of the jurisdiction in which the Contributor has
      his or her principal place of business or residence.

   e. All trademarks, trade names, service marks and other proprietary
      names used in the Contribution that are reasonably and personally
      known to the Contributor are clearly designated as such where
      reasonable.

3.5.  No Duty to Publish

   The Contributor, and each named co-Contributor, acknowledges that the
   IETF has no duty to publish or otherwise use or disseminate any
   Contribution.  The IETF reserves the right to withdraw or cease using
   any Contribution that does not comply with the requirements of
   Section 3.4 and Section 3.3 or 4.2.

3.6.  Trademarks

   Contributors, and each named co-Contributor, who claim trademark
   rights in terms used in their IETF Contributions are requested to
   state specifically what conditions apply to implementers of the
   technology relative to the use of such trademarks.  Such statements

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   should be submitted in the same way as is done for other intellectual
   property claims.  (See [RFC3979] Section 6.)

4.  Rights in RFC Editor Contributions

   The following are the rights the IETF, as the publisher of Internet-
   Drafts, requires in all RFC Editor Contributions:

4.1.  Requirements from Section 3

   All RFC Editor Contributions must meet the requirements of Sections
   3.1, 3.2, 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6.

4.2.  Granting of Rights and Permissions

   By submission of an RFC Editor Contribution, each person actually
   submitting the RFC Editor Contribution, and each named co-
   Contributor, is deemed to agree to the following terms and
   conditions, and to grant the following rights, on his or her own
   behalf and on behalf of the organization the Contributor represents
   or is sponsored by (if any) when submitting the RFC Editor
   Contribution.

   a. To the extent that an RFC Editor Contribution or any portion
      thereof is protected by copyright and other rights of authorship,
      the Contributor, and each named co-Contributor, and the
      organization he or she represents or is sponsored by (if any)
      grant a perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free,
      world-wide right and license to the ISOC and the IETF under all
      intellectual property rights in the RFC Editor Contribution for at
      least the life of the Internet-Draft:

      (A) to copy, publish, display, and distribute the RFC Editor
          Contribution as an Internet-Draft,

      (B) to prepare or allow the preparation of translations of the RFC
          into languages other than English.

      (C) unless explicitly disallowed in the notices contained in an
          RFC Editor Contribution (as per Section 5.2 below), to prepare
          derivative works (other than translations) that are based on
          or incorporate all or part of the RFC Editor Contribution, or
          comment upon it.  The license to such derivative works not
          granting the ISOC and the IETF any more rights than the
          license to the original RFC Editor Contribution, and

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      (D) to reproduce any trademarks, service marks or trade names
          which are included in the RFC Editor Contribution solely in
          connection with the reproduction, distribution or publication
          of the RFC Editor Contribution and derivative works thereof as
          permitted by this paragraph.  When reproducing RFC Editor
          Contributions, the IETF will preserve trademark and service
          mark identifiers used by the Contributor of the RFC Editor
          Contribution, including (TM) and (R) where appropriate.

   b. The Contributor grants the IETF and ISOC permission to reference
      the name(s) and address(es) of the Contributor(s) and of the
      organization(s) s/he represents or is sponsored by (if any).

5.  Notices Required in IETF Documents

   The IETF requires that certain notices and disclaimers described in
   this Section 5 be reproduced verbatim in all IETF Documents
   (including copies, derivative works and translations of IETF
   Documents, but subject to the limited exceptions noted in Section
   5.2).  This requirement protects IETF and its participants from
   liabilities connected with these documents.  The copyright notice
   also alerts readers that the document is an IETF Document, and that
   ISOC claims copyright rights to certain aspects of the document, such
   as its layout, the RFC numbering convention and the prefatory
   language of the document.  This legend is not intended to imply that
   ISOC has obtained ownership of the IETF Contribution itself, which is
   retained by the author(s) or remains in the public domain, as
   applicable.

   Each IETF Document must include the required notices described in
   this Section 5.  The required notices are the following:

   a. The IPR Disclosure Acknowledgement described in Section 5.1
      (required in all Internet-Drafts).
   b. The Derivative Works Limitation described in Section 5.2 (for
      specific IETF Documents only).
   c. The Publication Limitation described in Section 5.3 (for specific
      types of Internet-Drafts only).
   d. The Copyright Notice described in Section 5.4 (for all IETF
      Documents).
   e. The Disclaimer described in Section 5.5 (for all IETF Documents).

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5.1.  IPR Disclosure Acknowledgement (required in all Internet-Drafts
      only)

      "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."

5.2.  Derivative Works Limitation

   If the Contributor desires to eliminate the IETF's right to make
   modifications and derivative works of an IETF Contribution (other
   than translations), one of the two of the following notices may be
   included in the Status of Memo section of an Internet-Draft and
   included in a published RFC:

   a. "This document may not be modified, and derivative works of it may
      not be created, except to publish it as an RFC and to translate it
      into languages other than English."

   b. "This document may not be modified, and derivative works of it may
      not be created."

   In the cases of MIB or PIB modules and in other cases where the
   Contribution includes material that is meant to be extracted in order
   to be used, the following should be appended to statement 5.2 (a) or
   5.2 (b):

      "other than to extract section XX as-is for separate use."

   Notice 5.2(a) is used if the Contributor intends for the IETF
   Contribution to be published as an RFC.  Notice 5.2(b) is used along
   with the Publication Limitation in Section 5.3 when the Contributor
   does not intend for the IETF Contribution to be published as an RFC.

   These notices may not be used with any standards-track document or
   with most working group documents, except as discussed in Section 7.3
   below, since the IETF must retain change control over its documents
   and the ability to augment, clarify and enhance the original IETF
   Contribution in accordance with the IETF Standards Process.

   Notice 5.2(a) may be appropriate when republishing standards produced
   by other (non-IETF) standards organizations, industry consortia or
   companies.  These are typically published as Informational RFCs, and
   do not require that change control be ceded to the IETF.  Basically,
   documents of this type convey information for the Internet community.

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   A fuller discussion of the rationale behind these requirements is
   contained in Section 7.3 below.

5.3.  Publication Limitation

   If the Contributor only wants the IETF Contribution to be made
   available in an Internet-Draft (i.e., does not want the IETF
   Contribution to be published as an RFC) then the Contributor may
   include the following notice in the Status of Memo section of the
   Internet-Draft.

      "This document may only be posted in an Internet-Draft."

   This notice can be used on IETF Contributions that are intended to
   provide background information to educate and to facilitate
   discussions within IETF working groups but are not intended to be
   published as an RFCs.

5.4.  Copyright Notice (required for all IETF Documents)

   (Normally placed at the end of the IETF Document.)

      "Copyright (C) The Internet Society (year).

      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."

   Additional copyright notices are not permitted in IETF Documents
   except in the case where such document is the product of a joint
   development effort between the IETF and another standards development
   organization or the document is a republication of the work of
   another standards organization.  Such exceptions must be approved on
   an individual basis by the IAB.

5.5.  Disclaimer (required in all IETF Documents)

   (Normally placed at the end of the IETF Document after the copyright
   notice.)

      "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."

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5.6.  Exceptions

   Notwithstanding the provisions of this Section 5, in certain limited
   cases an abbreviated notice may be placed on certain types of
   derivative works of IETF Documents in accordance with this Section
   5.6.

   a. in MIB modules, PIB modules and similar material commonly
      extracted from IETF Documents, except for material that is being
      placed under IANA maintenance, the following abbreviated notice
      shall be included in the body of the material that will be
      extracted in lieu of the notices otherwise required by Section 5:

         "Copyright (C) The Internet Society <year>.  This version of
         this MIB module is part of RFC XXXX; see the RFC itself for
         full legal notices."

      When the MIB or PIB module is the initial version of a module that
      is to be maintained by the IANA, the following abbreviated notice
      shall be included:

         "Copyright (C) The Internet Society <year>.  The initial
         version of this MIB module was published in RFC XXXX; for full
         legal notices see the RFC itself.  Supplementary information
         may be available at:
         http://www.ietf.org/copyrights/ianamib.html."

      For other types of components than "MIB", substitute "MIB module"
      with an appropriate identifier.  In the case of MIB and PIB
      modules this statement should be placed in the DESCRIPTION clause
      of the MODULE-IDENTITY macro.

      Variations of these abbreviated notices are not permitted except
      in cases where the material to be extracted is the product of a
      joint development effort between the IETF and another standards
      development organization or is a republication of the work of
      another standards organization.  Such variations must be approved
      on an individual basis by the IAB.

   b. short excerpts of IETF Documents presented in electronic help
      systems, for example, the DESCRIPTION clauses for MIB variables,
      do not need to include a copyright notice.

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6.  Notices and Rights Required in RFC Editor Contributions

   Since the IETF acts as publisher of Internet Drafts, even for
   Internet Drafts that are not intended to become part of the Standards
   Process, the following are required in all such drafts to protect the
   IETF and its processes.  The RFC Editor may require additional
   notices.

   a. An IPR Disclosure Acknowledgement, identical to that specified in
      Section 5.1.

   b. One of the following three copyright release statements:

      A. "By submitting this Internet-Draft, I accept the provisions of
         Section 3 of BCP 78."

      B. "By submitting this Internet-Draft, I accept the provisions of
         Section 4 of BCP 78."

      C. The Copyright Notice specified in Section 5.4 and the
         disclaimer specified in section 5.5.

7.  Exposition of Why These Procedures Are the Way They Are

7.1.  Rights Granted in IETF Contributions

   The IETF/ISOC must obtain the right to publish an IETF Contribution
   as an RFC or an Internet-Draft from the Contributors.

   A primary objective of this policy is to obtain from the document
   authors only the non-exclusive rights that are needed to develop and
   publish IETF Documents and to use the IETF Contributions in the IETF
   Standards Process while leaving all other rights with the authors.

   The non-exclusive rights that the IETF needs are:

   a. the right to publish the document
   b. the right to let the document be freely reproduced in the formats
      that the IETF publishes it in
   c. the right to let third parties translate it into languages other
      than English
   d. except where explicitly excluded (see Section 5.2), the right to
      make derivative works within the IETF process.
   e. the right to let third parties extract some logical parts, for
      example MIB modules

   The authors retain all other rights, but cannot withdraw the above
   rights from the IETF/ISOC.

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RFC 3978              IETF Rights in Contributions            March 2005

7.2.  Rights to use Contributed Material

   Because, under the laws of most countries and applicable
   international treaties, copyright rights come into existence whenever
   a work of authorship is created (but see Section 8 below regarding
   public domain documents), and IETF cannot make use of IETF
   Contributions if it does not have sufficient rights with respect to
   these copyright rights, it is important that the IETF receive
   assurances from all Contributors that they have the authority to
   grant the IETF the rights that they claim to grant.  Without this
   assurance, IETF and its participants would run a greater risk of
   liability to the owners of these rights.

   To this end, IETF asks Contributors to give the assurances in Section
   3.4 above.  These assurances are requested, however, only to the
   extent of the Contributor's reasonable and personal knowledge.  (See
   Section 1(l))

7.3.  Right to Produce Derivative Works

   The IETF needs to be able to evolve IETF Documents in response to
   experience gained in the deployment of the technologies described in
   such IETF Documents, to incorporate developments in research and to
   react to changing conditions on the Internet and other IP networks.
   In order to do this the IETF must be able to produce derivatives of
   its documents; thus the IETF must obtain the right from Contributors
   to produce derivative works.  Note though that the IETF only requires
   this right for the production of derivative works within the IETF
   Standards Process.  The IETF does not need, nor does it obtain, the
   right to let derivative works be created outside of the IETF
   Standards Process other than as noted in Section 3.3 (E).

   The right to produce derivative works is required for all IETF
   standards track documents and for most IETF non-standards track
   documents.  There are two exceptions to this requirement:  documents
   describing proprietary technologies and documents that are
   republications of the work of other standards organizations.

   The right to produce derivative works must be granted in order for an
   IETF working group to accept an IETF Contribution as a working group
   document or otherwise work on it.  For non-working group IETF
   Contributions where the Contributor requests publication as a
   standards track RFC the right to produce derivative works must be
   granted before the IESG will issue an IETF Last-Call and, for most
   non-standards track non-working group IETF Contributions, before the
   IESG will consider the Internet-Draft for publication.

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RFC 3978              IETF Rights in Contributions            March 2005

   Occasionally a Contributor may not want to grant publication rights
   or the right to produce derivative works before finding out if an
   IETF Contribution has been accepted for development in the IETF
   Standards Process.  In these cases the Contributor may include the
   Derivative Works Limitation described in Section 5.2 and the
   Publication Limitation described in Section 5.3 in their IETF
   Contribution.  A working group can discuss the Internet-Draft with
   the aim to decide if it should become a working group document, even
   though the right to produce derivative works or to publish the IETF
   Contribution as an RFC has not yet been granted.  If the IETF
   Contribution is accepted for development the Contributor must then
   resubmit the IETF Contribution without the limitation notices before
   a working group can formally adopt the IETF Contribution as a working
   group document.

   The IETF has historically encouraged organizations to publish details
   of their technologies, even when the technologies are proprietary,
   because understanding how existing technology is being used helps
   when developing new technology.  But organizations that publish
   information about proprietary technologies are frequently not willing
   to have the IETF produce revisions of the technologies and then claim
   that the IETF version is the "new version" of the organization's
   technology.  Organizations that feel this way can specify that an
   IETF Contribution can be published with the other rights granted
   under this document but may withhold the right to produce derivative
   works other than translations.  The right to produce translations is
   required before any IETF Contribution can be published as an RFC to
   ensure the widest possible distribution of the material in RFCs.

   In addition, IETF Documents frequently make normative references to
   standards or recommendations developed by other standards
   organizations.  Since the publications of some standards
   organizations are not public documents, it can be quite helpful to
   the IETF to republish, with the permission of the other standards
   organization, some of these documents as RFCs so that the IETF
   community can have open access to them to better understand what they
   are referring to.  In these cases the RFCs can be published without
   the right for the IETF to produce derivative works.

   In both of the above cases in which the production of derivative
   works is excluded, the Contributor must include a special legend in
   the IETF Contribution, as specified in Section 5.2, in order to
   notify IETF participants about this restriction.

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RFC 3978              IETF Rights in Contributions            March 2005

7.4.  Rights to Use Trademarks

   Contributors may wish to seek trademark or service mark protection on
   any terms that are coined or used in their IETF Contributions.  IETF
   makes no judgment about the validity of any such trademark rights.
   However, the IETF requires each Contributor, under the licenses
   described in Section 3.3 above, to grant IETF a perpetual license to
   use any such trademarks or service marks solely in exercising its
   rights to reproduce, publish and modify the IETF Contribution.  This
   license does not authorize any IETF participant to use any trademark
   or service mark in connection with any product or service offering,
   but only in the context of IETF Documents and discussions.

7.5.  Who Does This Apply To?

   Rights and licenses granted to the IETF under this document are
   granted to all individuals noted in Section 1(a), irrespective of
   their employment or institutional affiliation.  However, these
   licenses do not extend broadly to the employers, sponsors or
   institutions of such individuals, nor do they authorize the
   individuals to exercise any rights outside the specific context of
   the IETF Standards Process.

8.  Contributions Not Subject to Copyright

   Certain documents, including those produced by the U.S. government
   and those which are in the public domain, may not be protected by the
   same copyright and other legal rights as other documents.
   Nevertheless, we ask each Contributor to grant to the IETF the same
   rights as he or she would grant, and to make the same
   representations, as though the IETF Contribution were protected by
   the same legal rights as other documents, and as though the
   Contributor could be able to grant these rights.  We ask for these
   grants and representations only to the extent that the Contribution
   may be protected.  We believe they are necessary to protect the ISOC,
   the IETF, the IETF Standards Process and all IETF participants, and
   also because the IETF does not have the resources or wherewithal to
   make any independent investigation as to the actual proprietary
   status of any document submitted to it.

9.  Security Considerations

   This memo relates to IETF process, not any particular technology.
   There are security considerations when adopting any technology, but
   there are no known issues of security with IETF Contribution rights
   policies.

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RFC 3978              IETF Rights in Contributions            March 2005

10.  References

10.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2026]  Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision
              3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, October 1996.

   [RFC2028]  Hovey, R. and S. Bradner, "The Organizations Involved in
              the IETF Standards Process", BCP 11, RFC 2028, October
              1996.

   [RFC3979]  Bradner, S., Ed, "Intellectual Property Rights in IETF
              Technology", BCP 79, RFC 3979, March 2005.

10.2.  Informative References

   [Berne]    "Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and
              Artistic Work",
              http://www.wipo.int/edocs/trtdocs/en/wo/wo001en.htm

11.  Acknowledgements

   The editor would like to acknowledge the help of the IETF IPR Working
   Group and, in particular the help of Jorge Contreras of Hale and Dorr
   for his careful legal reviews of this and other IETF IPR-related and
   process documents.  The editor would also like to acknowledge the
   extensive help John Klensin provided during the development of the
   document.

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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RFC 3978              IETF Rights in Contributions            March 2005

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.

Bradner, Ed.             Best Current Practice                 [Page 18]