Intellectual Property Rights (ipr)

Last Modified: 2007-07-23

Additional information is available at tools.ietf.org/wg/ipr

Chair(s):

  • Harald Alvestrand <harald@alvestrand.no>

    General Area Director(s):

  • Russ Housley <housley@vigilsec.com>

    General Area Advisor:

  • Russ Housley <housley@vigilsec.com>

    Mailing Lists:

    General Discussion: ipr-wg@ietf.org
    To Subscribe: ipr-wg-request@ietf.org
    Archive: http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ipr-wg/index.html

    Description of Working Group:

    The IETF and the Internet have greatly benefited from the free
    exchange of ideas and technology. For many years the IETF normal
    behavior was to standardize only unencumbered technology.
    While the "Tao" of the IETF is still strongly oriented toward
    unencumbered technology, we can and do make use of technology that has
    various encumbrances.
    One of the goals of the IETF IPR policy has been to make it easier
    for the IETF to make use of encumbered technology when it made
    sense to do so.

    This group has attempted to clarify and update that IPR policy,
    resulting in RFC 3978, RFC 3979 and RFC 3905. The WG has also
    discussed the possibility of changing the IETF's patent policy, but
    did not detect a consensus for doing so.

    At the time of this recharter (February 2006), there are two
    remaining items of work for the WG:

    - An issue with the production of derivative works has led to the
    realization that RFC 2026 and RFC 3978 do not specify exactly the
    same policy on this matter, and that neither policy, when read
    literally, may be optimal for the IETF's purpose,
    in accordance with its mission statement (RFC 3935), its policy
    of retaining change control of its own documents, and its desire
    for its documents to be openly available and useful.

    - The creation of the IETF Trust for managing the IETF IPR has led
    to the question of how the Trustees should evaluate the
    benefit of the IETF community as a whole and if necessary the
    consensus of the IETF on a given matter. Specifically the question
    arises whether the previous discussions of the IPR WG have led to
    experience that should be codified for the guidance of the Trustees.

    The WG will produce 3 documents:

    - An update to RFC 3978 (BCP) that attempts to specify a complete set
    of rights with respect to derivative works granted to the IETF by
    authors, as well as technical updates necessitated by the existence
    of the Trust
    - A document (info) giving advice to the IETF Trust on what rights in
    IETF contributions it should attempt to grant to the public in order
    to retain change control while allowing open access, resolving the
    discrepancy between RFC 2026 and RFC 3978
    - A document (info) giving other advice to the IETF Trust on IPR
    handling, based on the IPR WG's experience of discussions in the area

    The last document may include advice to the IETF Trust on
    mechanisms for consulting with the community on IPR issues once the
    IPR WG has closed, if consensus on such advice can be found.

    The IPR WG may decide to drop the last document from its charter if
    it decides that it has nothing to say.

    All documents should have an IETF-wide Last Call before being approved.

    Goals and Milestones:

    Done  1st draft of updated IPR BCP document on documents - documenting existing practice
    Done  1st draft of updated IPR BCP document on technology - documenting existing practice
    Done  1st draft of IPR guidance document
    Done  2nd draft of updated IPR BCP document on documents
    Done  List of issues that need to be discussed while revising the documents
    Done  2nd draft of updated IPR BCP document on technology
    Done  2nd draft of IPR guidance document
    Done  IPR BCP document on documents sent to IETF Last Call
    Done  IPR BCP document on technology sent to IETF Last Call
    Done  IPR guidance document submitted to IESG for publication
    Done  1st draft of RFC 3978 update
    Feb 2006  1st draft of granted rights advice doc
    Feb 2006  1st draft of IPR advice doc
    Mar 2006  RFC 3978 update to IESG for approval
    Apr 2006  Granted rights advice to IESG for approval
    Aug 2006  IPR advice to IESG for approval
    Oct 2006  Once documents are all published, close WG

    Internet-Drafts:

    Advice to the Trustees of the IETF Trust on Rights to be Granted in IETF Documents (20039 bytes)
    Rights Contributors provide to the IETF Trust (41507 bytes)

    Request For Comments:

    Guidelines for Working Groups on Intellectual Property Issues (RFC 3669) (40946 bytes)
    Intellectual Property Rights in IETF Technology (RFC 3668) (41365 bytes) obsoleted by RFC 3979
    IETF Rights in Contributions (RFC 3667) (43297 bytes) obsoleted by RFC 3978
    A Template for IETF Patent Disclosures and Licensing Declarations (RFC 3905) (16110 bytes)
    IETF Rights in Contributions (RFC 3978) (43574 bytes) obsoletes RFC 3667/ updates RFC 2026
    RFC 3978 Update to recognize the IETF Trust (RFC 4748) (7284 bytes)
    Clarification of the 3rd Party Disclosure procedure in RFC 3979 (RFC 4879) (5570 bytes)
    IETF Secretariat - Please send questions, comments, and/or suggestions to ietf-web@ietf.org.

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