PKCS Contribution Agreement Burt Kaliski, RSA Laboratories PKCS Workshop, 28 September 1999

Overview New agreement covering contributions to PKCS process A milestone in this “informal, intervendor” standards process Motivated by Matt Wood’s PKCS #11 v2.1 contribution –thanks to Intel, RSA Security’s attorneys (Available from the PKCS Web page)

What’s a Contribution? Formal submission of document for consideration in the PKCS process –“proposed amendment” or “proposed specification” (i.e., “standard”) –N.B.: there is no formal PKCS process yet :-) Mailing list discussions, comments on documents, etc. excluded

Outline of Agreement Contribution outline Intellectual property requirements Decision-making authority

Contribution Outline Title Classification –amendment or specification Contributor Date/Version Abstract Description Discussion IP Issues References

IP Requirements Goals: openness, access Aspects: –consent and copyright –patent and trademark identification –licensing policy –additional input (RSA Laboratories will adhere to these as well)

Consent and Copyright “Contributor agrees to the guidelines for PKCS contributions …” “… grants RSA Laboratories license to make derivative works … [and] to include … in PKCS documents”

Patent and Trademark Identification “… include text identifying any patents, patent application, trademarks or trademark applications owned by or exclusively licensed to Contributor that may apply to the Contribution” See recent PKCS documents for examples No representations required about third-party IP

Licensing Policy (Derived from IEEE standards policy) Three options: –“… will not enforce …” –“… without compensation” –“reasonable” and non-discriminatory

Additional Input “RSA Laboratories may solicit additional input from other parties on potential patent and trademark coverage” –a regular part of review of drafts but “… does not warrant the correctness of completeness of such information”

Decision-Making Authority “RSA Laboratories may reject a Contribution not meeting these requirements …” “… shall have sole decision-making authority on whether to include a Contribution … in PKCS documents” but “will rely on review and advice of … security researchers and developers”

Contributions to Date Matthew Wood (Intel): PKCS #11 v2.1 drafts (“proposed amendments”) Others welcome!