Network Working Group A. Malis, Ed.
Request for Comments: 5745 For the IAB
Updates: 4846 December 2009
Category: Informational
Procedures for Rights Handling in the RFC IAB Stream
Abstract
This document specifies the procedures by which authors of RFC IAB
stream documents grant the community "incoming" rights for copying and
using the text. It also specifies the "outgoing" rights the community
grants to readers and users of those documents, and it requests that the
IETF Trust manage the outgoing rights to effect this result.
Status of This Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2009 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(
http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the BSD License.
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RFC 5745 Rights for the IAB Stream December 2009
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4. Rules for Submission and Use of Material . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5. Procedures Requested of the IETF Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6. Patent and Trademark Rules for the IAB Stream . . . . . . . . . 4
7. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
8. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
8.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
8.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
9. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
10. IAB Members at the Time of This Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1. Introduction
As the IETF has grown, the process and the community have become more
careful about defining the rights relating to copying documents that
are granted by authors to the community, and the corresponding rights
that are granted by the community to readers and users of these
documents. The creation of the IETF Trust [RFC4371], with its
special role in managing intellectual property rights (IPR), has also
increased the need to be explicit about these rights and decisions.
This document defines the copyright procedures for RFC IAB stream
documents. It parallels the procedures for IETF-produced documents
defined in RFC 5377 [RFC5377] and RFC 5378 [RFC5378].
In summary, submissions in the IAB stream use the same submission
procedures and mechanisms that are defined in RFC 5378, and hence
require the same "incoming rights" as IETF-stream documents. This
document provides advice to the Trustees of the IETF Trust on
"outgoing" rights to be granted to readers and users of IAB stream
documents, and it explicitly requests the IETF Trust to manage the
rights in accordance with this advice.
This document also specifies the policies with regard to the
disclosure of Patents and Trademarks that may be relevant to a
submission intended for the IAB stream.
2. Background
The concept of RFC streams in general, and the IAB stream in
particular, is described in Section 5 of RFC 4844 [RFC4844].
Section 8 of RFC 4846 [RFC4846] presented the copyright rules for the
Independent Submission stream. The present document is intended to
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be fully consistent with that section, and to update it by clarifying
the formal procedures that the IETF Trust will use to effect those
rules. In particular, it is the intention of this document to make
the copyright rules for IAB stream documents identical to those for
Independent Submission stream documents.
3. Goals
The goal of the IAB stream of RFCs is to publish information from the
IAB to the Internet community. Consistent with the principle stated
for the Independent Submission stream in Section 8 of RFC 4846, this
objective will best be met with a liberal copyright policy on IAB
stream documents. Therefore, the IAB stream policy is to allow any
individual reading such documents to use the content thereof in any
manner. The only restriction is that proper credit ("attribution")
must be given. Lawyers describe this liberal policy by saying that
this stream normally permits "unlimited derivative works". The only
additional restriction for the use of IAB documents is that proper
credit ("attribution") must be given.
However, for a small subset of documents published as IAB stream
documents, such as output from other standards bodies, it is not
reasonable to permit unlimited derivative works. In such cases,
authors are permitted to request that the published IAB stream
documents permit no derivative works.
Note also that this unlimited derivative works policy applies to all
parts of an IAB stream document, including any code. Therefore, no
separate licensing procedure is required for extracting and adapting
code that is contained in an IAB stream document submitted under the
(preferred) unlimited derivative works terms. On the other hand,
code may not be extracted and adapted from IAB stream documents
submitted under the "no derivative works" terms.
4. Rules for Submission and Use of Material
IAB stream authors will submit their material as Internet-Drafts.
These drafts will be submitted to, and stored in, the IETF Internet-
Drafts repository in the same fashion as IETF Internet-Drafts.
During Internet-Draft submission, authors who intend to submit their
document for publication in the IAB stream will grant rights as
described in [RFC5378]. To request that the contribution be
published as an RFC that permits no derivative works, an author may
use the form specified for use with RFC 5378.
The IETF Trust will publish rules that provide that the Trust grants
to readers and users of material from IAB stream RFCs the right to
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RFC 5745 Rights for the IAB Stream December 2009
make unlimited derivative works, unless the RFC specifies that no
derivative works are permitted. This will permit anyone to copy,
extract, modify, or otherwise use material from IAB stream RFCs as
long as suitable attribution is given.
Contributors of Internet-Drafts intended for the IAB stream will
include the appropriate boilerplate defined by the IETF Trust. This
boilerplate shall indicate compliance with RFC 5378 and shall
explicitly indicate either that no derivative works can be based on
the contribution, or, as is preferred, that unlimited derivative
works may be crafted from the contribution.
5. Procedures Requested of the IETF Trust
The IAB requests that the IETF Trust and its Trustees assist in
meeting the goals and procedures set forth in this document.
The Trustees are requested to publicly confirm their willingness and
ability to accept responsibility for the Intellectual Property Rights
for the IAB stream.
Specifically, the Trustees are asked to develop the necessary
boilerplate to enable the suitable marking of documents so that the
IETF Trust receives the rights as specified in RFC 5378. These
procedures need to also allow authors to indicate either no rights to
make derivative works, or preferentially, the right to make unlimited
derivative works from the documents. It is left to the Trust to
specify exactly how this shall be clearly indicated in each document.
6. Patent and Trademark Rules for the IAB Stream
As specified above, contributors of documents for the IAB stream are
expected to use the IETF Internet-Draft process, complying therein
with the rules specified in the latest version of BCP 9, whose
version at the time of writing was [RFC2026]. This includes the
disclosure of Patent and Trademark issues that are known, or can be
reasonably expected to be known, to the contributor.
Disclosure of license terms for patents is also requested, as
specified in the most recent version of BCP 79. The version of BCP
79 at the time of this writing was [RFC3979], updated by [RFC4879].
The IAB stream has chosen to use the IETF's IPR disclosure mechanism,
www.ietf.org/ipr/, for this purpose. The IAB would prefer the most
liberal terms possible be made available for IAB stream documents.
Terms that do not require fees or licensing are preferable. Non-
discriminatory terms are strongly preferred over those that
discriminate among users. However, although disclosure is required
and the IAB may consider disclosures and terms in making a decision
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as to whether to submit a document for publication, there are no
specific requirements on the licensing terms for intellectual
property related to IAB stream publication.
7. Security Considerations
The integrity and quality of the IAB stream are the responsibility of
the IAB. This document does not change those responsibilities.
8. References
8.1. Normative References
[RFC2026] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision
3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, October 1996.
[RFC3979] Bradner, S., Ed., "Intellectual Property Rights in IETF
Technology", BCP 79, RFC 3979, March 2005.
[RFC4371] Carpenter, B., Ed., and L. Lynch, Ed., "BCP 101 Update
for IPR Trust", BCP 101, RFC 4371, January 2006.
[RFC4844] Daigle, L., Ed., and Internet Architecture Board, "The RFC
Series and RFC Editor", RFC 4844, July 2007.
[RFC4846] Klensin, J., Ed., and D. Thaler, Ed., "Independent
Submissions to the RFC Editor", RFC 4846, July 2007.
[RFC4879] Narten, T., "Clarification of the Third Party Disclosure
Procedure in RFC 3979", BCP 79, RFC 4879, April 2007.
[RFC5378] Bradner, S., Ed., and J. Contreras, Ed., "Rights
Contributors Provide to the IETF Trust", BCP 78, RFC 5378,
November 2008.
8.2. Informative References
[RFC5377] Halpern, J., Ed., "Advice to the Trustees of the IETF
Trust on Rights to Be Granted in IETF Documents", RFC
5377, November 2008.
[RFC5744] Braden, R. and J. Halpern, "Procedures for Rights Handling
in the RFC Independent Submission Stream", RFC 5744,
December 2009.
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9. Acknowledgements
The author wishes to acknowledge that the majority of text of this
document was derived from [RFC5744], and wishes to thank the authors
of that document.
10. IAB Members at the Time of This Writing
Marcelo Bagnulo
Gonzalo Camarillo
Stuart Cheshire
Vijay Gill
Russ Housley
John Klensin
Olaf Kolkman
Gregory Lebovitz
Andrew Malis
Danny McPherson
David Oran
Jon Peterson
Dave Thaler
Author's Address
Andrew G. Malis
Verizon Communications
117 West St.
Waltham, MA 02451
USA
EMail:
[email protected]
IAB
EMail:
[email protected]
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