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 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. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet- Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt. The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. 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. Halpern Expires August 28, 2006 [Page 1] Internet-Draft Outbound Rights Advice February 2006 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 Halpern Expires August 28, 2006 [Page 2] Internet-Draft Outbound Rights Advice February 2006 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.] Halpern Expires August 28, 2006 [Page 3] Internet-Draft Outbound Rights Advice February 2006 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 Halpern Expires August 28, 2006 [Page 4] Internet-Draft Outbound Rights Advice February 2006 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 Halpern Expires August 28, 2006 [Page 5] Internet-Draft Outbound Rights Advice February 2006 Author's Address Joel M. Halpern (editor) Self P. O. Box 6049 Leesburg, VA 20178 US Email: jmh@joelhalpern.com Halpern Expires August 28, 2006 [Page 6] Internet-Draft Outbound Rights Advice February 2006 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. Halpern Expires August 28, 2006 [Page 7]