IPR Details
Corporation for National Research Initiatives' Statement about IPR related to RFC 3650, RFC 3651, and RFC 3652

Update this IPR disclosure
Submitted: October 9, 2025 under the rules in RFC 8179.

Note: Updates to IPR disclosures must only be made by authorized representatives of the original submitters. Updates will automatically be forwarded to the current Patent Holder's Contact and to the Submitter of the original IPR disclosure.

Updates

Updates
IPR Disclosure ID #805, "Corporation for National Research Initiatives's statement about IPR claimed in RFC 3650, RFC 3651, and RFC 3652" (which was removed at the request of the submitter)
IPR Disclosure ID #325, "Corporation for National Research Initiatives's Statement About IPR Claimed in RFC 3650, RFC 3651, and RFC 3652" (which was removed at the request of the submitter)

I. Patent Holder/Applicant ("Patent Holder")

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Corporation for National Research Initiatives Holder legal name Corporation for National Research Initiatives

II. Patent Holder's Contact for License Application

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Robert E. Kahn Holder contact name Dr. Robert E. Kahn
rkahn@cnri.reston.va.us Holder contact email rkahn@cnri.reston.va.us

President & CEO
1895 Preston White Drive, Suite 100
Reston, Virginia 20191
T: 703-620-8990
F: 703-620-0913

 Holder contact info

1895 Preston White Drive
Reston, VA, USA
Tel: (703)620-8990
Email: rkahn@cnri.reston.va.us

III. IETF Document or Other Contribution to Which this IPR Disclosure Relates

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RFC:
RFC3650 ("Handle System Overview")
RFC:
RFC3651 ("Handle System Namespace and Service Definition")
RFC:
RFC3652 ("Handle System Protocol (ver 2.1) Specification")
RFC:
RFC3650 ("Handle System Overview")
RFC:
RFC3651 ("Handle System Namespace and Service Definition")
RFC:
RFC3652 ("Handle System Protocol (ver 2.1) Specification")

IV. Disclosure of Patent Information
i.e., patents or patent applications required to be disclosed by RFC 8179

A. For granted patents or published pending patent applications, please provide the following information:

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6,135,646
Date: October 24, 2000
Country: USA

 Patent, Serial, Publication, Registration, or Application/File number(s)

Number: US 6135646
Inventor: Robert E. Kahn; and David K. Ely
Title: System for Uniquely and Persistently Identifying, Managing, and Tracking Digital Objects
Date: 2000-10-24
Notes: This patent has now expired.

B. Does this disclosure relate to an unpublished pending patent application?:

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Has patent pending No

V. 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):

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See Text Below for Licensing Declaration Licensing See Text Below for Licensing Declaration

In accordance with Section 10 of RFC 2026, Corporation for National
Research Initiatives wishes to make the following statement which updates our
original statement of January 8, 2004:

The Handle System® technology described in the three Informational RFCs
published as 3650, 3651, and 3652 is a component of the Digital Object
Architecture developed by Corporation for National Research Initiatives
(“CNRI�), a non-profit research and development organization. This
technology provides a means for uniquely identifying Digital Objects ("DOs") and
other network resources, and for using identifiers, sometimes known as handles,
to store and retrieve records containing state information about the DOs. In
addition to this resolution capability, it provides an administrative mechanism
for managing identifiers over time. Information about the Handle System
technology is available at http://www.handle.net.

While CNRI has one issued patent and is seeking additional patent protection on
the Handle System technology, CNRI has made and will continue to make this
technology available in the public interest with an overall objective of
maintaining the integrity of the Handle System and providing for its operation
and growth. Specifically, to the extent that the Handle System technology is
incorporated in IETF standards implementing this technology, CNRI agrees to
grant permission to implement, use, and distribute the technology under openly
specified, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms.

In June 2006, CNRI licensed the Handle System technology, together with certain
reference implementation software known as HANDLE.NET, for use by the general
public under the HANDLE SYSTEM PUBLIC LICENSE AGREEMENT (Ver.2). A copy of this
License Agreement may be located using the following resolvable link
http://hdl.handle.net/4263537/5030. This License Agreement allows commercial and
non-commercial use of both CNRI’s patented technology and the HANDLE.NET
software, and allows the software to be freely embedded in other systems and
products. It should be noted, however, that a Licensee who wishes to provide
identifier and/or resolution services that use or are based on the Handle System
technology, whether or not they use the CNRI software, as a condition of the
License Agreement, must register with CNRI and enter into and maintain in effect
a HANDLE SYSTEM SERVICE AGREEMENT. Service Agreement information is located at
http://hdl.handle.net/423537/5029.

 Licensing information, comments, notes, or URL for further information

Handle System (HS) was originally designed and developed by Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) with support from DARPA; and handle resolution is an essential component of the Digital Object Architecture (DOA). CNRI’s initial implementation of handle resolution was described in a series of three informational documents (RFCs 3650, 3651, and 3652) that were made available by the IETF in 2003. Subsequently, CNRI developed the Digital Object Identifier Resolution Protocol Specification (Ver. 3.0) (DO-IRP) which replaces the three RFCs. While the DO-IRP specification was based on the Handle System Protocol, and is largely backwards compatible with it, DO-IRP is not dependent on it.

On June 30, 2022, CNRI assigned all right, title and interest in the DO-IRP specification to the DONA Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. The DO-IRP specification is freely available to the public under a DONA Foundation open source license at https://www.dona.net/sites/default/files/2022-06/DO-IRPV3.0--2022-06-30.pdf

CNRI’s assignment of the “Handle System” trademark to the DONA Foundation was recorded by the USPTO on November 21, 2014.

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.

VI. Contact Information of Submitter of this Form

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Robert E. Kahn Submitter name Dr. Robert E. Kahn
rkahn@cnri.reston.va.us Submitter email rkahn@cnri.reston.va.us

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