IPR

This document provides education and guidance for IETF participants on compliance with antitrust laws and how to reduce antitrust risks in connection with IETF activities.

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 as possible about any IPR constraints on a technical proposal as early as possible in the development process. The policies are intended to benefit the Internet community and the public at large, while respecting the legitimate rights of IPR holders. This document sets out 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 document updates RFC 2026 and, with RFC 5378, replaces Section 10 of RFC 2026. This document also obsoletes RFCs 3979 and 4879.

The IETF has developed and documented policies that govern the behavior of all IETF participants with respect to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) about which they might reasonably be aware.

The IETF takes conformance to these IPR policies very seriously. However, there has been some ambiguity as to what the appropriate sanctions are for the violation of these policies, and how and by whom those sanctions are to be applied.

This document discusses these issues and provides a suite of potential actions that can be taken within the IETF community in cases related to patents. This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes.

The disclosure process for intellectual property rights (IPR) in documents produced within the IETF stream is essential to the accurate development of community consensus. However, this process is not always followed by IETF participants. Regardless of the cause or motivation, noncompliance with IPR disclosure rules can delay or even derail completion of IETF specifications. This document describes some strategies for promoting compliance with the IPR disclosure rules. These strategies are primarily intended for use by area directors, working group chairs, and working group secretaries. This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes.

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. This memo provides information for the Internet community.

This document specifies the procedures by which authors of RFC Independent Submission 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. This memo provides information for the Internet community.

The IETF policies about rights in Contributions to the IETF are designed to ensure that such Contributions can be made available to the IETF and Internet communities while permitting the authors to retain as many rights as possible. This memo details the IETF policies on rights in Contributions to the IETF. It also describes the objectives that the policies are designed to meet. This memo obsoletes RFCs 3978 and 4748 and, with BCP 79 and RFC 5377, replaces Section 10 of RFC 2026. This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.

This memo defines an extension to the Atom Syndication Format for describing licenses associated with Atom feeds and entries. This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet community.

This document describes a proposal for one form of a template for IETF patent disclosures and licensing declarations. The optional use of this template is meant to simplify the process of such disclosures and licensing declarations and to assist disclosers in providing the necessary information to meet the obligations documented in RFC 3668. This memo provides information for the Internet community.

This memo lays out a conceptual framework and rules of thumb useful for working groups dealing with Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues. It documents specific examples of how IPR issues have been dealt with in the IETF. This memo provides information for the Internet community.

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

This Request for Comments records a grant by IBM Corporation to permit the conditional free use of one of its patents. This memo provides information for the Internet community. This memo does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.

This RFC is a public statement by Public Key Partners regarding Public Key Standards and Licenses. This memo is for informational use only, and does not constitute an Internet standard.