pre8prob BOF Background March 24, 2009 IETF 74 (San Francisco) Jorge Contreras

IETF Copyright Policy Evolution Mar. 1992 – RFC 1310 Mar. 1994 – RFC 1602 Oct. 1996 – RFC 2026 Mar. 2005 – RFC 3978 (BCP 78) Oct. 2006 – RFC 4748 (updates RFC 3978 re Trust) Nov. 2008 – RFC 5378 + Trust Legal Provisions WilmerHale

What is the IETF Trust? Independent legal entity formed in 2005 to hold IETF-related IPR Trademarks Domain names Records Copyrights in IETF Documents NOT patents RFC 5378 causes “inbound” grant of rights from Contributors to Trust Trust Legal Provisions (TLP) grants rights from Trust to IETF Community and, if authorized, to others WilmerHale

What did RFC 5378 do? Clarified the rights that were always “assumed” to exist (e.g., unrestricted distribution of IETF Documents) BSD licensing of Code Components (open source compatible) Removal of most boilerplate from IETF Documents, with pointer to TLP Clarification of IETF copyright in “combination” works (RFCs) Establish Trust as IETF license “clearing house” Enabled Trust to grant “derivative” rights outside the IETF Standards Process WilmerHale

Rights Granted under 5378/TLP Applies to IETF Documents and Contributions Trust grants right to Copy and translate unmodified documents for any purpose (from 3978, but clarified) Extract unmodified portions for any purpose, such as documentation (from 3978, but clarified) Make derivatives within IETF Standards Process (from 3978) Unless excluded by a legend (e.g., informational material) Trust can grant the right to modify outside the IETF Standards Process (e.g., to hand over a standard to another SDO for evolution/modification) (new, but rare – not yet granted by Trust) WilmerHale

The 5378 “bug” First “incoming rights” I-D published Mar. 1, 2007 RFC 5378 became effective on Nov. 10, 2008 At the IETF 73 Plenary session on Nov. 19, 2008, Sam Hartman pointed out the following: Post-5378 IETF Contributions may contain material from pre-5378 IETF Documents and Contributions Yet the licenses granted by pre-5378 Contributors in their Contributions are less than the rights granted under 5378 5378 requires Contributors to warrant that they are giving the Trust all rights required by 5378 Contributors would be making a false statement if they said that they gave full 5378 rights with respect to pre-5378 material WilmerHale

The IETF Trust’s Work-around Revised TLP effective Feb. 15, 2009 If an IETF Contribution contains pre-5378 material, the Contributor may include a new legend in the Contribution This legend warns readers that pre-5378 material is included and full 5378 rights may not be granted for this pre-5378 material If the legend is present, the Trust agrees that it will not attempt to license this pre-5378 material for modification outside the IETF Standards Process without obtaining licenses from all persons controlling the copyrights WilmerHale

Developing a Permanent Solution That’s the purpose of this BOF! WilmerHale