IPR WG Internet Draft V. See (editor) Document: draft-ietf-ipr-template-00.txt Microsoft Expires: November 1, 2003 May 1, 2003 A Template for IETF Patent Disclosures and Licensing Declarations Status of this Memo This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026 [i]. 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. Abstract This document describes a template for IETF patent disclosures and licensing declarations. Such a template may be used to inform the IETF of patent information for all IETF documents, and licensing information regarding IETF standards-track documents. The optional use of this template is meant to simplify the process of such disclosures and to assist disclosers in providing the necessary information to meet the obligations documented in . Conventions used in this document 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 RFC-2119 [ii]. See Expires - November 1, 2003 [Page 1] Patent Disclosure and Licensing Declaration Template May 1 2003 Table of Contents 1. Introduction...................................................2 2. The Patent Disclosure and Licensing Declaration Template.......2 3. Commentary on Terms used in the Template.......................5 Security Considerations...........................................5 References........................................................6 Acknowledgments...................................................6 Authors' Addresses................................................6 Full Copyright statement..........................................7 1. Introduction RFC XXXX [iii] documents the current IETF policies and obligations with respect to disclosure of patents and patent applications containing patent claims that a patent holder believes would be necessary to implement the technology required in an Internet-Draft or RFC. It also documents the information requested in licensing declarations for IETF Standards, Proposed Standards, and Draft Standards. In the interest of making these disclosure processes simpler for patent holders, this document proposes a patent disclosure and licensing declaration template that may be optionally used as one method for patent holders to fulfill their obligations under RFC XXXX. For the latest information on how to submit a patent disclosure or licensing declaration, please see . 2. The Patent Disclosure and Licensing Declaration Template This document is an IETF Patent Disclosure and Licensing Declaration Template and is submitted to inform the IETF of patent information for all IETF documents, and licensing information regarding IETF Standards Track documents. No actual license is implied by submission of this document. Please complete and submit a separate template for each IETF document. I. Patent Holder/Organization ("Patent Holder") Legal Name: II. Patent HolderĘs Contact for License Application Name: See Expires - November 1, 2003 [Page 2] Patent Disclosure and Licensing Declaration Template May 1 2003 Department: Address: Telephone: Fax: Email: III. IETF Document Title: RFC Number or I-D Tag: Other Designations: IV. Disclosure of Patent Information (i.e., patents or patent applications required to be disclosed by Section 6 of RFC XXXX [insert reference to Bradner's technology-rights document.] A. For granted patents or published pending patent applications, please provide the following information: Patent, Serial, Publication, Registration, or Application/File numbers: Date(s) granted or applied for: B. Does your disclosure relate to an unpublished pending patent application? Select one: Yes ______ No ______ C. Please check here to acknowledge that, if requested by an IETF working group or the IESG, the Patent Holder will file a new copy of this template to provide an update (if any) in the status of the disclosed patent application or patent, such as whether the patent See Expires - November 1, 2003 [Page 3] Patent Disclosure and Licensing Declaration Template May 1 2003 application or patent has been published, granted, abandoned, or is no longer applicable to the IETF Document. ______ D. If an Internet-Draft or RFC includes multiple parts and it is not reasonably apparent which part of such Internet-Draft or RFC is alleged to be covered by the information disclosed in IV(A) or IV(B), the discloser should identify here the sections of the Internet-Draft or RFC that are alleged to be so covered. V. Licensing Declaration for IETF Standards, Proposed Standards, or Draft Standards: If the IETF Document referenced in III above is or becomes an IETF Standards Track document, 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 the Patent Holder believes would be necessary to implement the technology required by the IETF Standard, Proposed Standard, or Draft Standard ("Patent Claims") is as follows (select one option only): ___ No License Required for Implementers ___ Royalty-Free, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory License to All Implementers ___ Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory License to All Implementers with Possible Royalty/Fee ___ Licensing Declaration to be Provided Later (implies a willingness to license in some form to all implementers; otherwise, "Unwilling to License to All Implementers" must be selected) ___ Unwilling to License to All Implementers VI. Other Notes: See Expires - November 1, 2003 [Page 4] Patent Disclosure and Licensing Declaration Template May 1 2003 3. Commentary on Terms used in the Template Section VI in the template, "Other Notes," may be used for any additional information a discloser wishes to provide. Here is an explanation of the licensing declaration options in Section V of the template: a) No License Required for Implementers: The Patent Holder does not require parties to acquire any license to its Patent Claims in order to implement the IETF Standard, Proposed Standard, or Draft Standard. b) Royalty-Free, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory License to All Implementers: The Patent Holder will, upon request, grant a license to its Patent Claims to all implementers of the IETF Standard, Proposed Standard, or Draft Standard on a royalty-free basis (i.e., no royalty or other fee) and under reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. c) Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory License to All Implementers with Possible Royalty/Fee: The Patent Holder will, upon request, grant a license to its Patent Claims to all implementers of the IETF Standard, Proposed Standard, or Draft Standard under reasonable and non-discriminatory terms (which may include a royalty/fee). d) Licensing Declaration to be Provided Later (implies a willingness to license in some form to all implementers): The Patent Holder is willing to license its Patent Claims in some form to all implementers of the IETF Standard, Proposed Standard, or Draft Standard, but wants to defer the declaration of its licensing type until a later point in time (or when asked for this information by the IESG). This option may not be selected if the Patent Holder is unwilling to license its Patent Claims. e) Unwilling to License to All Implementers: The Patent Holder refuses to license its Patent Claims to all implementers of the IETF Standard, Proposed Standard, or Draft Standard, except on an implementer-by-implementer basis, in its sole discretion. Security Considerations This document relates to IETF process, not any particular technology. There are security considerations when adopting any particular technology, regardless of whether patents and patent applications or licensing disclosures are implicated by such technology. A working group should take those security considerations into account as one See Expires - November 1, 2003 [Page 5] Patent Disclosure and Licensing Declaration Template May 1 2003 part of evaluating the technology, but there are no security considerations per se with these IETF processes. References i Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, October 1996. ii Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997 iii Bradner, S., "Intellectual Property Rights in IETF Technology", RFC XXXX, 2003. Acknowledgments The authors acknowledge the thoughtful contributions of Harald Alvestrand and Scott Bradner to this document. Authors' Addresses Valerie See Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052 USA Email: vsee@microsoft.com Robert Barr Cisco Systems, Inc. 170 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, CA 95134 USA Email: rbarr@cisco.com Scott Brim Cisco Systems, Inc. 146 Honess Lane, Ithaca, NY 14850 USA Email: sbrim@cisco.com Paul Gleichauf Cisco Systems, Inc. 170 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, CA 95134 USA Email: phg@cisco.com Allen Lo Juniper Networks 1194 North Mathilda Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94089 USA Email: alo@juniper.net See Expires - November 1, 2003 [Page 6] Patent Disclosure and Licensing Declaration Template May 1 2003 Full Copyright statement Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003). Except as set forth below, authors retain all their rights. This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for rights in submissions defined in the Internet Standards process must be followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than English. The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns. This document and the information contained herein is provided on an "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS (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. See Expires - November 1, 2003 [Page 7]