    Network Working Group                                    S. Bradner, Ed.
    Request for Comments: 3978                            Harvard University
    BCP: 78                                                       March 2005
    Obsoletes: 3667
    Updates: 2026
    Category: Best Current Practice

                          IETF Rights in Contributions

    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 (2005).

    Abstract

       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
       updates RFC 2026, and, with RFC 3979, replaces Section 10 of RFC
       2026.

    Table of Contents

       1.  Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
       2.  Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
       3.  Rights in IETF Contributions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
           3.1.  General Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
           3.2.  Confidentiality Obligations . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
           3.3.  Granting of Rights and Permissions. . . . . . . . . . .   6
           3.4.  Representations and Warranties. . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
           3.5.  No Duty to Publish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
           3.6.  Trademarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
       4.  Rights in RFC Editor Contributions. . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
           4.1.  Requirements from Section 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
           4.2.  Granting of Rights and Permissions. . . . . . . . . . .   8
       5.  Notices Required in IETF Documents. . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
           5.1.  IPR Disclosure Acknowledgement. . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
           5.2.  Derivative Works Limitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10

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           5.3.  Publication Limitation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
           5.4.  Copyright Notice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
           5.5.  Disclaimer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
           5.6.  Exceptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
       6.  Notices and Rights Required in RFC Editor Contributions . . .  13
       7.  Exposition of why these procedures are the way they are . . .  13
           7.1.  Rights Granted in IETF Contributions. . . . . . . . . .  13
           7.2.  Rights to use Contributed Material. . . . . . . . . . .  14
           7.3.  Right to Produce Derivative Works . . . . . . . . . . .  14
           7.4.  Rights to use Trademarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
           7.5.  Who Does This Apply To? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
       8.  Contributions Not Subject to Copyright. . . . . . . . . . . .  16
       9.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
       10. References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
           10.1. Normative References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
           10.2. Informative References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
       11. Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
           Editor's Address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
           Full Copyright Statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18

    1.  Definitions

       The following definitions are for terms used in the context of this
       document.  Other terms, including "IESG," "ISOC," "IAB," and "RFC
       Editor," are defined in [RFC2028].

       a. "IETF":  In the context of this document, the IETF includes all
          individuals who participate in meetings, working groups, mailing
          lists, functions and other activities which are organized or
          initiated by ISOC, the IESG or the IAB under the general
          designation of the Internet Engineering Task Force or IETF, but
          solely to the extent of such participation.

       b. "IETF Standards Process": the activities undertaken by the IETF in
          any of the settings described in 1(c) below.

       c. "IETF Contribution": any submission to the IETF intended by the
          Contributor for publication as all or part of an Internet-Draft or
          RFC (except for RFC Editor Contributions described below) and any
          statement made within the context of an IETF activity.  Such
          statements include oral statements in IETF sessions, as well as
          written and electronic communications made at any time or place,
          which are addressed to:

          o  the IETF plenary session,
          o  any IETF working group or portion thereof,
          o  the IESG, or any member thereof on behalf of the IESG,
          o  the IAB or any member thereof on behalf of the IAB,

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          o  any IETF mailing list, including the IETF list itself, any
             working group or design team list, or any other list
             functioning under IETF auspices,
          o  the RFC Editor or the Internet-Drafts function (except for RFC
             Editor Contributions described below).

          Statements made outside of an IETF session, mailing list or other
          function, that are clearly not intended to be input to an IETF
          activity, group or function, are not IETF Contributions in the
          context of this document.

       d. "Internet-Draft": temporary documents used in the IETF and RFC
          Editor processes.  Internet-Drafts are posted on the IETF web site
          by the IETF Secretariat and have a nominal maximum lifetime in the
          Secretariat's public directory of 6 months, after which they are
          removed.  Note that Internet-Drafts are archived many places on
          the Internet, and not all of these places remove expired
          Internet-Drafts.  Internet-Drafts that are under active
          consideration by the IESG are not removed from the Secretariat's
          public directory until that consideration is complete.  In
          addition, the author of an Internet-Draft can request that the
          lifetime in the Secretariat's public directory be extended before
          the expiration.

       e. "RFC": the basic publication series for the IETF.  RFCs are
          published by the RFC Editor and once published are never modified.
          (See [RFC2026] Section 2.1)

       f. "RFC Editor Contribution": An Internet-Draft intended by the
          Contributor to be submitted to the RFC Editor for publication as
          an Informational or Experimental RFC but not intended to be part
          of the IETF Standards Process.

       g. "IETF Internet-Drafts": Internet-Drafts other than RFC Editor
          Contributions.  Note that under Section 3.3(a) the grant of rights
          in regards to IETF Internet-Drafts as specified in this document
          is perpetual and irrevocable and thus survives the Secretariat's
          removal of an Internet-Draft from the public directory, except as
          limited by Section 3.3(a)(C).  (See [RFC2026] Sections 2.2 and 8)

       h. "IETF Documents":  RFCs and Internet-Drafts except for Internet-
          Drafts that are RFC Editor Contributions and the RFCs that are
          published from them.

       i. "RFC Editor Documents":  RFCs and Internet-Drafts that are RFC
          Editor Contributions and the RFCs that may be published from them.

       j. "Contribution": IETF Contributions and RFC Editor Contributions.

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       k. "Contributor": an individual submitting a Contribution.

       l. "Reasonably and personally known": means something an individual
          knows personally or, because of the job the individual holds,
          would reasonably be expected to know.  This wording is used to
          indicate that an organization cannot purposely keep an individual
          in the dark about patents or patent applications just to avoid the
          disclosure requirement.  But this requirement should not be
          interpreted as requiring the IETF Contributor or participant (or
          his or her represented organization, if any) to perform a patent
          search to find applicable IPR.

    2.  Introduction

       Under the laws of most countries and current international treaties
       (for example the "Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and
       Artistic Work" [Berne]), authors obtain numerous rights in the works
       they produce automatically upon producing them.  These rights include
       copyrights, moral rights and other rights.  In many cases, if the
       author produces a work within the scope of his or her employment,
       most of those rights are usually assigned to the employer, either by
       operation of law or, in many cases, under contract.  (The Berne
       Convention names some rights as "inalienable", which means that the
       author retains them in all cases.)

       This document details the rights that the IETF requires in IETF
       Contributions and rights the IETF, as publisher of Internet-Drafts,
       requires in all such Drafts including RFC Editor Contributions.  The
       RFC Editor may also define additional rights required for RFC Editor
       Contributions.

       In order for works to be used within the IETF Standards Process or to
       be published as Internet-Drafts, certain limited rights in all
       Contributions must be granted to the IETF and Internet Society
       (ISOC).  In addition, Contributors must make representations to IETF
       and ISOC regarding their ability to grant these rights.  These
       necessary rights and representations have until now been laid out in
       Section 10 of [RFC2026].  In the years since [RFC2026] was published
       there have been a number of times when the exact intent of Section 10
       has been the subject of vigorous debate within the IETF community.
       The aim of this document is to clarify various ambiguities in Section
       10 of [RFC2026] that led to these debates and to amplify the policy
       in order to clarify what the IETF is currently doing.

       Section 1 gives definitions used in describing these policies.
       Sections 3, 4, 5, and 6 of this document address the rights in
       Contributions previously covered by Section 10 of [RFC2026] and the
       "Note Well" explanatory text presented at many IETF activities.

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       Sections 7 and 8 then explain the rationale for these provisions,
       including some of the clarifications that have become understood
       since the adoption of [RFC2026].  The rules and procedures set out in
       this document are not intended to substantially modify or alter the
       IETF's current policy toward Contributions.

       A companion document [RFC3979] deals with rights in technologies
       developed or specified as part of the IETF Standards Process.  This
       document is not intended to address those issues.

       The rights addressed in this document fall into the following
       categories:

       o  rights to make use of contributed material
       o  copyrights in IETF documents
       o  rights to produce derivative works
       o  rights to use trademarks

       This document is not intended as legal advice.  Readers are advised
       to consult their own legal advisors if they would like a legal
       interpretation of their rights or the rights of the IETF in any
       Contributions they make.

    3.  Rights in IETF Contributions

       The following are the rights the IETF requires in all IETF
       Contributions:

    3.1.  General Policy

       In all matters of copyright and document procedures, the intent is to
       benefit the Internet community and the public at large, while
       respecting the legitimate rights of others.

    3.2.  Confidentiality Obligations

       No information or document that is subject to any requirement of
       confidentiality or any restriction on its dissemination may be
       submitted as a Contribution or otherwise considered in any part of
       the IETF Standards Process, and there must be no assumption of any
       confidentiality obligation with respect to any Contribution.  Each
       Contributor agrees that any statement in a Contribution, whether
       generated automatically or otherwise, that states or implies that the
       Contribution is confidential or subject to any privilege, can be
       disregarded for all purposes, and will be of no force or effect.

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    3.3.  Granting of Rights and Permissions

       By submission of a Contribution, each person actually submitting the
       Contribution, and each named co-Contributor, is deemed to agree to
       the following terms and conditions, and to grant the following
       rights, on his or her own behalf and on behalf of the organization
       the Contributor represents or is sponsored by (if any) when
       submitting the Contribution.

       a. To the extent that a Contribution or any portion thereof is
          protected by copyright and other rights of authorship, the
          Contributor, and each named co-Contributor, and the organization
          he or she represents or is sponsored by (if any) grant a
          perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, world-wide
          right and license to the ISOC and the IETF under all intellectual
          property rights in the Contribution:

          (A) to copy, publish, display, and distribute the Contribution as
              part of the IETF Standards Process or in an Internet-Draft,

          (B) to prepare or allow the preparation of translations of the
              Contribution into languages other than English,

          (C) unless explicitly disallowed in the notices contained in a
              Contribution [as per Section 5.2 below], to prepare derivative
              works (other than translations) that are based on or
              incorporate all or part of the Contribution, or comment upon
              it, within the IETF Standards Process.  The license to such
              derivative works not granting the ISOC and the IETF any more
              rights than the license to the original Contribution,

          (D) to reproduce any trademarks, service marks or trade names
              which are included in the Contribution solely in connection
              with the reproduction, distribution or publication of the
              Contribution and derivative works thereof as permitted by this
              paragraph.  When reproducing Contributions, the IETF will
              preserve trademark and service mark identifiers used by the
              Contributor of the Contribution, including (TM) and (R) where
              appropriate, and

          (E) to extract, copy, publish, display, distribute, modify and
              incorporate into other works, for any purpose (and not limited
              to use within the IETF Standards Process) any executable code
              or code fragments that are included in any IETF Document (such
              as MIB and PIB modules), subject to the requirements of
              Section 5 (it also being understood that the licenses granted
              under this paragraph (E) shall not be deemed to grant any
              right under any patent, patent application or other similar

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              intellectual property right disclosed by the Contributor under
              [RFC3979]).

       b. The Contributor grants the IETF and ISOC permission to reference
          the name(s) and address(es) of the Contributor(s) and of the
          organization(s) s/he represents or is sponsored by (if any).

    3.4.  Representations and Warranties

       With respect to each Contribution, each Contributor represents that
       to the best of his or her knowledge and ability:

       a. The Contribution properly acknowledges all major Contributors.  A
          major Contributor is any person who has materially or
          substantially contributed to the IETF Contribution.

       b. No information in the Contribution is confidential and the IETF,
          ISOC, and its affiliated organizations may freely disclose any
          information in the Contribution.

       c. There are no limits to the Contributor's ability to make the
          grants, acknowledgments and agreements herein that are reasonably
          and personally known to the Contributor.

       d. The Contributor has not intentionally included in the Contribution
          any material which is defamatory or untrue or which is illegal
          under the laws of the jurisdiction in which the Contributor has
          his or her principal place of business or residence.

       e. All trademarks, trade names, service marks and other proprietary
          names used in the Contribution that are reasonably and personally
          known to the Contributor are clearly designated as such where
          reasonable.

    3.5.  No Duty to Publish

       The Contributor, and each named co-Contributor, acknowledges that the
       IETF has no duty to publish or otherwise use or disseminate any
       Contribution.  The IETF reserves the right to withdraw or cease using
       any Contribution that does not comply with the requirements of
       Section 3.4 and Section 3.3 or 4.2.

    3.6.  Trademarks

       Contributors, and each named co-Contributor, who claim trademark
       rights in terms used in their IETF Contributions are requested to
       state specifically what conditions apply to implementers of the
       technology relative to the use of such trademarks.  Such statements

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       should be submitted in the same way as is done for other intellectual
       property claims.  (See [RFC3979] Section 6.)

    4.  Rights in RFC Editor Contributions

       The following are the rights the IETF, as the publisher of Internet-
       Drafts, requires in all RFC Editor Contributions:

    4.1.  Requirements from Section 3

       All RFC Editor Contributions must meet the requirements of Sections
       3.1, 3.2, 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6.

    4.2.  Granting of Rights and Permissions

       By submission of an RFC Editor Contribution, each person actually
       submitting the RFC Editor Contribution, and each named co-
       Contributor, is deemed to agree to the following terms and
       conditions, and to grant the following rights, on his or her own
       behalf and on behalf of the organization the Contributor represents
       or is sponsored by (if any) when submitting the RFC Editor
       Contribution.

       a. To the extent that an RFC Editor Contribution or any portion
          thereof is protected by copyright and other rights of authorship,
          the Contributor, and each named co-Contributor, and the
          organization he or she represents or is sponsored by (if any)
          grant a perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free,
          world-wide right and license to the ISOC and the IETF under all
          intellectual property rights in the RFC Editor Contribution for at
          least the life of the Internet-Draft:

          (A) to copy, publish, display, and distribute the RFC Editor
              Contribution as an Internet-Draft,

          (B) to prepare or allow the preparation of translations of the RFC
              into languages other than English.

          (C) unless explicitly disallowed in the notices contained in an
              RFC Editor Contribution (as per Section 5.2 below), to prepare
              derivative works (other than translations) that are based on
              or incorporate all or part of the RFC Editor Contribution, or
              comment upon it.  The license to such derivative works not
              granting the ISOC and the IETF any more rights than the
              license to the original RFC Editor Contribution, and

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          (D) to reproduce any trademarks, service marks or trade names
              which are included in the RFC Editor Contribution solely in
              connection with the reproduction, distribution or publication
              of the RFC Editor Contribution and derivative works thereof as
              permitted by this paragraph.  When reproducing RFC Editor
              Contributions, the IETF will preserve trademark and service
              mark identifiers used by the Contributor of the RFC Editor
              Contribution, including (TM) and (R) where appropriate.

       b. The Contributor grants the IETF and ISOC permission to reference
          the name(s) and address(es) of the Contributor(s) and of the
          organization(s) s/he represents or is sponsored by (if any).

    5.  Notices Required in IETF Documents

       The IETF requires that certain notices and disclaimers described in
       this Section 5 be reproduced verbatim in all IETF Documents
       (including copies, derivative works and translations of IETF
       Documents, but subject to the limited exceptions noted in Section
       5.2).  This requirement protects IETF and its participants from
       liabilities connected with these documents.  The copyright notice
       also alerts readers that the document is an IETF Document, and that
       ISOC claims copyright rights to certain aspects of the document, such
       as its layout, the RFC numbering convention and the prefatory
       language of the document.  This legend is not intended to imply that
       ISOC has obtained ownership of the IETF Contribution itself, which is
       retained by the author(s) or remains in the public domain, as
       applicable.

       Each IETF Document must include the required notices described in
       this Section 5.  The required notices are the following:

       a. The IPR Disclosure Acknowledgement described in Section 5.1
          (required in all Internet-Drafts).
       b. The Derivative Works Limitation described in Section 5.2 (for
          specific IETF Documents only).
       c. The Publication Limitation described in Section 5.3 (for specific
          types of Internet-Drafts only).
       d. The Copyright Notice described in Section 5.4 (for all IETF
          Documents).
       e. The Disclaimer described in Section 5.5 (for all IETF Documents).

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    5.1.  IPR Disclosure Acknowledgement (required in all Internet-Drafts
          only)

          "By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that
          any applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is
          aware have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she
          becomes aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of
          BCP 79."

    5.2.  Derivative Works Limitation

       If the Contributor desires to eliminate the IETF's right to make
       modifications and derivative works of an IETF Contribution (other
       than translations), one of the two of the following notices may be
       included in the Status of Memo section of an Internet-Draft and
       included in a published RFC:

       a. "This document may not be modified, and derivative works of it may
          not be created, except to publish it as an RFC and to translate it
          into languages other than English."

       b. "This document may not be modified, and derivative works of it may
          not be created."

       In the cases of MIB or PIB modules and in other cases where the
       Contribution includes material that is meant to be extracted in order
       to be used, the following should be appended to statement 5.2 (a) or
       5.2 (b):

          "other than to extract section XX as-is for separate use."

       Notice 5.2(a) is used if the Contributor intends for the IETF
       Contribution to be published as an RFC.  Notice 5.2(b) is used along
       with the Publication Limitation in Section 5.3 when the Contributor
       does not intend for the IETF Contribution to be published as an RFC.

       These notices may not be used with any standards-track document or
       with most working group documents, except as discussed in Section 7.3
       below, since the IETF must retain change control over its documents
       and the ability to augment, clarify and enhance the original IETF
       Contribution in accordance with the IETF Standards Process.

       Notice 5.2(a) may be appropriate when republishing standards produced
       by other (non-IETF) standards organizations, industry consortia or
       companies.  These are typically published as Informational RFCs, and
       do not require that change control be ceded to the IETF.  Basically,
       documents of this type convey information for the Internet community.

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       A fuller discussion of the rationale behind these requirements is
       contained in Section 7.3 below.

    5.3.  Publication Limitation

       If the Contributor only wants the IETF Contribution to be made
       available in an Internet-Draft (i.e., does not want the IETF
       Contribution to be published as an RFC) then the Contributor may
       include the following notice in the Status of Memo section of the
       Internet-Draft.

          "This document may only be posted in an Internet-Draft."

       This notice can be used on IETF Contributions that are intended to
       provide background information to educate and to facilitate
       discussions within IETF working groups but are not intended to be
       published as an RFCs.

    5.4.  Copyright Notice (required for all IETF Documents)

       (Normally placed at the end of the IETF Document.)

          "Copyright (C) The Internet Society (year).

          This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
          contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors
          retain all their rights."

       Additional copyright notices are not permitted in IETF Documents
       except in the case where such document is the product of a joint
       development effort between the IETF and another standards development
       organization or the document is a republication of the work of
       another standards organization.  Such exceptions must be approved on
       an individual basis by the IAB.

    5.5.  Disclaimer (required in all IETF Documents)

       (Normally placed at the end of the IETF Document after the copyright
       notice.)

          "This document and the information contained herein are provided
          on an "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE
          REPRESENTS OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND
          THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES,
          EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT
          THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR
          ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
          PARTICULAR PURPOSE."

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    5.6.  Exceptions

       Notwithstanding the provisions of this Section 5, in certain limited
       cases an abbreviated notice may be placed on certain types of
       derivative works of IETF Documents in accordance with this Section
       5.6.

       a. in MIB modules, PIB modules and similar material commonly
          extracted from IETF Documents, except for material that is being
          placed under IANA maintenance, the following abbreviated notice
          shall be included in the body of the material that will be
          extracted in lieu of the notices otherwise required by Section 5:

             "Copyright (C) The Internet Society <year>.  This version of
             this MIB module is part of RFC XXXX; see the RFC itself for
             full legal notices."

          When the MIB or PIB module is the initial version of a module that
          is to be maintained by the IANA, the following abbreviated notice
          shall be included:

             "Copyright (C) The Internet Society <year>.  The initial
             version of this MIB module was published in RFC XXXX; for full
             legal notices see the RFC itself.  Supplementary information
             may be available at:
             http://www.ietf.org/copyrights/ianamib.html."

          For other types of components than "MIB", substitute "MIB module"
          with an appropriate identifier.  In the case of MIB and PIB
          modules this statement should be placed in the DESCRIPTION clause
          of the MODULE-IDENTITY macro.

          Variations of these abbreviated notices are not permitted except
          in cases where the material to be extracted is the product of a
          joint development effort between the IETF and another standards
          development organization or is a republication of the work of
          another standards organization.  Such variations must be approved
          on an individual basis by the IAB.

       b. short excerpts of IETF Documents presented in electronic help
          systems, for example, the DESCRIPTION clauses for MIB variables,
          do not need to include a copyright notice.

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    6.  Notices and Rights Required in RFC Editor Contributions

       Since the IETF acts as publisher of Internet Drafts, even for
       Internet Drafts that are not intended to become part of the Standards
       Process, the following are required in all such drafts to protect the
       IETF and its processes.  The RFC Editor may require additional
       notices.

       a. An IPR Disclosure Acknowledgement, identical to that specified in
          Section 5.1.

       b. One of the following three copyright release statements:

          A. "By submitting this Internet-Draft, I accept the provisions of
             Section 3 of BCP 78."

          B. "By submitting this Internet-Draft, I accept the provisions of
             Section 4 of BCP 78."

          C. The Copyright Notice specified in Section 5.4 and the
             disclaimer specified in section 5.5.

    7.  Exposition of Why These Procedures Are the Way They Are

    7.1.  Rights Granted in IETF Contributions

       The IETF/ISOC must obtain the right to publish an IETF Contribution
       as an RFC or an Internet-Draft from the Contributors.

       A primary objective of this policy is to obtain from the document
       authors only the non-exclusive rights that are needed to develop and
       publish IETF Documents and to use the IETF Contributions in the IETF
       Standards Process while leaving all other rights with the authors.

       The non-exclusive rights that the IETF needs are:

       a. the right to publish the document
       b. the right to let the document be freely reproduced in the formats
          that the IETF publishes it in
       c. the right to let third parties translate it into languages other
          than English
       d. except where explicitly excluded (see Section 5.2), the right to
          make derivative works within the IETF process.
       e. the right to let third parties extract some logical parts, for
          example MIB modules

       The authors retain all other rights, but cannot withdraw the above
       rights from the IETF/ISOC.

    Bradner, Ed.             Best Current Practice                 [Page 13]

    RFC 3978              IETF Rights in Contributions            March 2005

    7.2.  Rights to use Contributed Material

       Because, under the laws of most countries and applicable
       international treaties, copyright rights come into existence whenever
       a work of authorship is created (but see Section 8 below regarding
       public domain documents), and IETF cannot make use of IETF
       Contributions if it does not have sufficient rights with respect to
       these copyright rights, it is important that the IETF receive
       assurances from all Contributors that they have the authority to
       grant the IETF the rights that they claim to grant.  Without this
       assurance, IETF and its participants would run a greater risk of
       liability to the owners of these rights.

       To this end, IETF asks Contributors to give the assurances in Section
       3.4 above.  These assurances are requested, however, only to the
       extent of the Contributor's reasonable and personal knowledge.  (See
       Section 1(l))

    7.3.  Right to Produce Derivative Works

       The IETF needs to be able to evolve IETF Documents in response to
       experience gained in the deployment of the technologies described in
       such IETF Documents, to incorporate developments in research and to
       react to changing conditions on the Internet and other IP networks.
       In order to do this the IETF must be able to produce derivatives of
       its documents; thus the IETF must obtain the right from Contributors
       to produce derivative works.  Note though that the IETF only requires
       this right for the production of derivative works within the IETF
       Standards Process.  The IETF does not need, nor does it obtain, the
       right to let derivative works be created outside of the IETF
       Standards Process other than as noted in Section 3.3 (E).

       The right to produce derivative works is required for all IETF
       standards track documents and for most IETF non-standards track
       documents.  There are two exceptions to this requirement:  documents
       describing proprietary technologies and documents that are
       republications of the work of other standards organizations.

       The right to produce derivative works must be granted in order for an
       IETF working group to accept an IETF Contribution as a working group
       document or otherwise work on it.  For non-working group IETF
       Contributions where the Contributor requests publication as a
       standards track RFC the right to produce derivative works must be
       granted before the IESG will issue an IETF Last-Call and, for most
       non-standards track non-working group IETF Contributions, before the
       IESG will consider the Internet-Draft for publication.

    Bradner, Ed.             Best Current Practice                 [Page 14]

    RFC 3978              IETF Rights in Contributions            March 2005

       Occasionally a Contributor may not want to grant publication rights
       or the right to produce derivative works before finding out if an
       IETF Contribution has been accepted for development in the IETF
       Standards Process.  In these cases the Contributor may include the
       Derivative Works Limitation described in Section 5.2 and the
       Publication Limitation described in Section 5.3 in their IETF
       Contribution.  A working group can discuss the Internet-Draft with
       the aim to decide if it should become a working group document, even
       though the right to produce derivative works or to publish the IETF
       Contribution as an RFC has not yet been granted.  If the IETF
       Contribution is accepted for development the Contributor must then
       resubmit the IETF Contribution without the limitation notices before
       a working group can formally adopt the IETF Contribution as a working
       group document.

       The IETF has historically encouraged organizations to publish details
       of their technologies, even when the technologies are proprietary,
       because understanding how existing technology is being used helps
       when developing new technology.  But organizations that publish
       information about proprietary technologies are frequently not willing
       to have the IETF produce revisions of the technologies and then claim
       that the IETF version is the "new version" of the organization's
       technology.  Organizations that feel this way can specify that an
       IETF Contribution can be published with the other rights granted
       under this document but may withhold the right to produce derivative
       works other than translations.  The right to produce translations is
       required before any IETF Contribution can be published as an RFC to
       ensure the widest possible distribution of the material in RFCs.

       In addition, IETF Documents frequently make normative references to
       standards or recommendations developed by other standards
       organizations.  Since the publications of some standards
       organizations are not public documents, it can be quite helpful to
       the IETF to republish, with the permission of the other standards
       organization, some of these documents as RFCs so that the IETF
       community can have open access to them to better understand what they
       are referring to.  In these cases the RFCs can be published without
       the right for the IETF to produce derivative works.

       In both of the above cases in which the production of derivative
       works is excluded, the Contributor must include a special legend in
       the IETF Contribution, as specified in Section 5.2, in order to
       notify IETF participants about this restriction.

    Bradner, Ed.             Best Current Practice                 [Page 15]

    RFC 3978              IETF Rights in Contributions            March 2005

    7.4.  Rights to Use Trademarks

       Contributors may wish to seek trademark or service mark protection on
       any terms that are coined or used in their IETF Contributions.  IETF
       makes no judgment about the validity of any such trademark rights.
       However, the IETF requires each Contributor, under the licenses
       described in Section 3.3 above, to grant IETF a perpetual license to
       use any such trademarks or service marks solely in exercising its
       rights to reproduce, publish and modify the IETF Contribution.  This
       license does not authorize any IETF participant to use any trademark
       or service mark in connection with any product or service offering,
       but only in the context of IETF Documents and discussions.

    7.5.  Who Does This Apply To?

       Rights and licenses granted to the IETF under this document are
       granted to all individuals noted in Section 1(a), irrespective of
       their employment or institutional affiliation.  However, these
       licenses do not extend broadly to the employers, sponsors or
       institutions of such individuals, nor do they authorize the
       individuals to exercise any rights outside the specific context of
       the IETF Standards Process.

    8.  Contributions Not Subject to Copyright

       Certain documents, including those produced by the U.S. government
       and those which are in the public domain, may not be protected by the
       same copyright and other legal rights as other documents.
       Nevertheless, we ask each Contributor to grant to the IETF the same
       rights as he or she would grant, and to make the same
       representations, as though the IETF Contribution were protected by
       the same legal rights as other documents, and as though the
       Contributor could be able to grant these rights.  We ask for these
       grants and representations only to the extent that the Contribution
       may be protected.  We believe they are necessary to protect the ISOC,
       the IETF, the IETF Standards Process and all IETF participants, and
       also because the IETF does not have the resources or wherewithal to
       make any independent investigation as to the actual proprietary
       status of any document submitted to it.

    9.  Security Considerations

       This memo relates to IETF process, not any particular technology.
       There are security considerations when adopting any technology, but
       there are no known issues of security with IETF Contribution rights
       policies.

    Bradner, Ed.             Best Current Practice                 [Page 16]

    RFC 3978              IETF Rights in Contributions            March 2005

    10.  References

    10.1.  Normative References

       [RFC2026]  Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision
                  3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, October 1996.

       [RFC2028]  Hovey, R. and S. Bradner, "The Organizations Involved in
                  the IETF Standards Process", BCP 11, RFC 2028, October
                  1996.

       [RFC3979]  Bradner, S., Ed, "Intellectual Property Rights in IETF
                  Technology", BCP 79, RFC 3979, March 2005.

    10.2.  Informative References

       [Berne]    "Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and
                  Artistic Work",
                  http://www.wipo.int/edocs/trtdocs/en/wo/wo001en.htm

    11.  Acknowledgements

       The editor would like to acknowledge the help of the IETF IPR Working
       Group and, in particular the help of Jorge Contreras of Hale and Dorr
       for his careful legal reviews of this and other IETF IPR-related and
       process documents.  The editor would also like to acknowledge the
       extensive help John Klensin provided during the development of the
       document.

    Editor's Address

       Scott Bradner
       Harvard University
       29 Oxford St.
       Cambridge MA, 02138

       Phone: +1 617 495 3864
       EMail: sob@harvard.edu

    Bradner, Ed.             Best Current Practice                 [Page 17]

    RFC 3978              IETF Rights in Contributions            March 2005

    Full Copyright Statement

       Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).

       This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
       contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors
       retain all their rights.

       This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
       "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
       OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
       ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
       INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE
       INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
       WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

    Intellectual Property

       The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
       Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to
       pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
       this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
       might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has
       made any independent effort to identify any such rights.  Information
       on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be
       found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.

       Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
       assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
       attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
       such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
       specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
       http://www.ietf.org/ipr.

       The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
       copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
       rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
       this standard.  Please address the information to the IETF at ietf-
       ipr@ietf.org.

    Acknowledgement

       Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
       Internet Society.

    Bradner, Ed.             Best Current Practice                 [Page 18]