[CCAMP] Reminder: IETF Disclosure Requirements & Process

Lou Berger <lberger@labn.net> Fri, 10 February 2012 16:44 UTC

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Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:44:46 -0500
From: Lou Berger <lberger@labn.net>
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Subject: [CCAMP] Reminder: IETF Disclosure Requirements & Process
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All,

We wanted to send out a reminder of the IETF's IPR disclosure
requirements.  To paraphrase, it says that if you have IPR in IETF work
you are to either:
(a) disclose it (or have your company disclose it), or
(b) not participate in discussions or I-Ds which may be encumbered by
the IPR.

Please take the time to read the rules about disclosing intellectual
property as expressed in RFC 3979 and at
http://trac.tools.ietf.org/group/iesg/trac/wiki/IntellectualProperty.

Some key excerpts are:
[from the url]
    (c) in order for the working group and the rest of the IETF
    to have the information needed to make an informed decision
    about the use of a particular technology, all those
    contributing to the working group's discussions must disclose
    the existence of any IPR the Contributor or other IETF
    participant believes Covers or may ultimately Cover the
    technology under discussion. This applies to both
    Contributors and other participants, and applies whether they
    contribute in person, via email or by other means. The
    requirement applies to all IPR of the participant, the
    participant's employer, sponsor, or others represented by the
    participants, that is reasonably and personally known to the
    participant. No patent search is required.

[from the RFC]

   6.1.1.  A Contributor's IPR in his or her Contribution

   Any Contributor who reasonably and personally knows of IPR meeting
   the conditions of Section 6.6 which the Contributor believes Covers
   or may ultimately Cover his or her Contribution, or which the
   Contributor reasonably and personally knows his or her employer or
   sponsor may assert against Implementing Technologies based on such
   Contribution, must make a disclosure in accordance with this Section
   6.
   <...>

   Contributors must disclose IPR meeting the description in this
   section; there are no exceptions to this rule.
   <...>

   7.  Failure to Disclose

   There are cases where individuals are not permitted by their
   employers or by other factors to disclose the existence or substance
   of patent applications or other IPR.  Since disclosure is required
   for anyone submitting documents or participating in IETF discussions,
   a person who does not disclose IPR for this reason, or any other
   reason, must not contribute to or participate in IETF activities with
   respect to technologies that he or she reasonably and personally
   knows to be Covered by IPR which he or she will not disclose.
   Contributing to or participating in IETF discussions about a
   technology without making required IPR disclosures is a violation of
   IETF process.

Lou and Deborah
CCAMP WG Chairs

[CCAMP] Reminder: IETF Disclosure Requirements & … Lou Berger