Network Working Group                                         S. Bradner
Request for Comments: 3668                            Harvard University
BCP: 79                                                    February 2004
Updates: 2028, 2026
Category: Best Current Practice


            Intellectual Property Rights in IETF Technology

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
   Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   The IETF policies about Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), such as
   patent rights, relative to technologies developed in the IETF are
   designed to ensure that IETF working groups and participants have as
   much information about any IPR constraints on a technical proposal as
   possible.  The policies are also intended to benefit the Internet
   community and the public at large, while respecting the legitimate
   rights of IPR holders.  This memo details the IETF policies
   concerning IPR related to technology worked on within the IETF.  It
   also describes the objectives that the policies are designed to meet.
   This memo updates RFC 2026 and, with RFC 3667, replaces Section 10 of
   RFC 2026.  This memo also updates paragraph 4 of Section 3.2 of RFC
   2028, for all purposes, including reference [2] in RFC 2418.

Table of Contents

   1.  Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
   2.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.  Contributions to the IETF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       3.1.  General Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       3.2.  Rights and Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   4.  Actions for Documents for which IPR Disclosure(s) Have Been
       Received . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       4.1. No Determination of Reasonable and Non-discriminatory
            Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   5.  Notice to be included in RFCs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   6.  IPR Disclosures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
       6.1.  Who must make an IPR disclosure? . . . . . . . . . . . .  9



Bradner                  Best Current Practice                  [Page 1]

RFC 3668                 IP in IETF Technology             February 2004


       6.2.  The timing of providing disclosure . . . . . . . . . . .  9
       6.3.  How must a disclosure be made? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
       6.4.  What must be in a disclosure?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
       6.5.  What licensing information to detail in a disclosure . . 12
       6.6.  When is a disclosure required? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
   7.  Failure to disclose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
   8.  Evaluating alternative technologies in IETF working groups . . 13
   9.  Change control for technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   10. Licensing requirements to advance standards track documents. . 14
   11. No IPR disclosures in IETF documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   12. Security Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   13. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
       13.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
       13.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .