Intellectual Property Rights in IETF Technology
RFC 3979
| Document | Type |
RFC - Best Current Practice
(March 2005; No errata)
Obsoleted by RFC 8179
Updated by RFC 4879
Obsoletes RFC 3668
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Last updated | 2013-03-02 | ||
| Stream | IETF | ||
| Formats | plain text pdf html bibtex | ||
| Stream | WG state | (None) | |
| Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
| IESG | IESG state | RFC 3979 (Best Current Practice) | |
| Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
| Telechat date | |||
| Responsible AD | (None) | ||
| Send notices to | (None) | ||
Network Working Group S. Bradner, Ed.
Request for Comments: 3979 Harvard University
BCP: 79 March 2005
Obsoletes: 3668
Updates: 2028, 2026
Category: Best Current Practice
Intellectual Property Rights in IETF Technology
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 Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), such as
patent rights, relative to technologies developed in the IETF are
designed to ensure that IETF working groups and participants have as
much information about any IPR constraints on a technical proposal as
possible. The policies are also intended to benefit the Internet
community and the public at large, while respecting the legitimate
rights of IPR holders. This memo details the IETF policies
concerning IPR related to technology worked on within the IETF. It
also describes the objectives that the policies are designed to meet.
This memo updates RFC 2026 and, with RFC 3978, replaces Section 10 of
RFC 2026. This memo also updates paragraph 4 of Section 3.2 of RFC
2028, for all purposes, including reference [2] in RFC 2418.
Table of Contents
1. Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. Contributions to the IETF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1. General Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.2. Rights and Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4. Actions for Documents for which IPR Disclosure(s) Have Been
Received . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.1. No Determination of Reasonable and Non-discriminatory
Terms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5. Notice to be Included in RFCs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6. IPR Disclosures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Bradner Best Current Practice [Page 1]
RFC 3979 IP in IETF Technology March 2005
6.1. Who Must Make an IPR Disclosure? . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
6.2. The Timing of Providing Disclosure . . . . . . . . . . . 9
6.3. How Must a Disclosure be Made? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6.4. What Must be in a Disclosure?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6.5. What Licensing Information to Detail in a Disclosure . . 12
6.6. When is a Disclosure Required? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
7. Failure to Disclose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
8. Evaluating Alternative Technologies in IETF Working Groups . . 13
9. Change Control for Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
10. Licensing Requirements to Advance Standards Track Documents. . 14
11. No IPR Disclosures in IETF Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
12. Security Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
13. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
13.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
13.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
14. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
15. Editor's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
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
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