Network Working Group                                        G. McAnally
Request for Comments: 1988                                    D. Gilbert
Category: Informational                                         J. Flick
                                                Hewlett Packard Company
                                                            August 1996


   Conditional Grant of Rights to Specific Hewlett-Packard Patents
      In Conjunction With the Internet Engineering Task Force's
            Internet-Standard Network Management Framework

Status of This Memo

  This memo provides information for the Internet community.  This memo
  does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of
  this memo is unlimited.

Note:

  This document is NOT a standard.  It is an announcement to interested
  parties of a conditional grant by the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) of
  certain rights to use autotopology network management technology
  covered by specific HP patents in conjunction with the Internet
  Engineering Task Force's (IETF's) Internet-standard network
  management framework.

Purpose

  This grant is made to help facilitate inclusion of certain patented
  search address technology covering network device mapping in IETF
  standards-track Management Information Base (MIB) modules.  HP is
  offering this search address technology to the IETF as a technique
  for mapping network devices.  It should be noted that the
  confirmatory license mentioned is optional, since the grant of rights
  is automatic.

A Grant of Rights to Hewlett-Packard US Patents 5,293,635 and 5,421,024

  HP hereby covenants that it will not assert any claims in US Patents
  5,293,635, 5,421,024, any continuations, divisions, or
  continuations-in-part of either, or any non-US counterparts of any of
  the foregoing against any party that makes, uses, sells, imports, or
  offers for sale, an implementation of an IETF standards-track MIB
  module that includes HP's contributed search address technology, or
  any derivative of that contribution, provided that the MIB module is
  employed to implement the Internet-standard network management
  framework.  Such grant of rights is limited in that it does not
  include a right to incorporate such HP search address technology into



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RFC 1988               Search Address Patent Use             August 1996


  proprietary MIB modules.

  This grant of rights will permanently terminate with respect to any
  party (and to any subsidiary of a party) that asserts a patent it
  owns or controls, either directly or indirectly, against HP or any of
  its subsidiaries for implementation of, or operation of any system
  utilizing, search address technology.  The termination of rights will
  occur as of the date the patent is asserted against HP.

  A written confirmation of this grant, and/or a license under any
  other HP patent under HP's then-current terms, conditions, and
  royalty rates, can be obtained by sending a request to:

          Patent Counsel
          Hewlett-Packard Company
          3000 Hanover Street
          Palo Alto, CA 94304
          USA

Security Considerations

  Security issues are not discussed in this memo.

Authors' Addresses

  Gary McAnally
  Hewlett-Packard Company
  8000 Foothills Blvd.
  Roseville, CA 95747
  USA


  Douglas Gilbert
  Hewlett-Packard Company
  3000 Hanover Street
  Palo Alto, CA 94304
  USA


  John Flick
  Hewlett-Packard Company
  8000 Foothills Blvd. M.S. 5556
  Roseville, CA 95747-5556
  USA

  Phone: (916) 785-4018
  EMail: [email protected]




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