





Network Working Group                                        V. See, Ed.
Request for Comments: 3905                                     Microsoft
Category: Informational                                   September 2004


   A Template for IETF Patent Disclosures and Licensing Declarations

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) The Internet Society (2004).

Abstract

   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.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction...................................................  1
   2. The Patent Disclosure and Licensing Declaration Template.......  2
   3. Commentary on Terms Used in the Template.......................  5
   4. Security Considerations........................................  7
   5. Normative References...........................................  7
   6. Acknowledgments................................................  7
   7  Editor's Address...............................................  8
   8. Authors' Addresses.............................................  8
   9. Full Copyright Statement.......................................  9

1.  Introduction

   RFC 3668 [RFC3668] documents the current IETF policies and
   obligations with respect to disclosure of patents and patent
   applications.  It also documents the information requested in
   licensing declarations for IETF specifications.  In the interest of
   making these patent disclosure and licensing declaration processes
   simpler, this document proposes a patent disclosure and licensing
   declaration template that may be optionally used as one method for
   IETF participants and patent holders to comply with patent disclosure
   requirements and licensing declaration provisions under RFC 3668.



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RFC 3905     Patent Disclosures and Licensing DeclarationsSeptember 2004


   This proposal also may be optionally used as a model by the IETF
   Secretariat for Web-based disclosure and licensing declaration tools;
   however, the intent of this document is informational and is not
   meant to suggest that this is the only method that could be used by
   IETF participants for disclosure of patents or for licensing
   declarations.  For the latest information on how to submit a patent
   disclosure or licensing declaration, please see
   http://www.ietf.org/ipr-instructions.

   IPR disclosures should be submitted in English, since this is the
   working language of the IETF.  Names of persons and companies should
   be presented in the way they are usually presented in an English-
   speaking context.

2.  The Patent Disclosure and Licensing Declaration Template

   START OF TEMPLATE

   This document is an IETF Patent Disclosure and Licensing Declaration
   Template and is submitted to inform the IETF of a) patent information
   regarding the IETF document or contribution listed in Section IV, and
   b) a Patent Holder's intention with respect to the licensing of its
   necessary patent claims.  No actual license is implied by submission
   of this template.  Please complete and submit a separate template for
   each IETF document or contribution to which the disclosed patent
   information relates.

   I. Patent Holder/Applicant ("Patent Holder")

   Legal Name:

   II. Patent Holder's Contact for License Application

   Name:

   Title:

   Department:

   Address:

   Telephone:

   Fax:

   Email:





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   III. Contact Information for the IETF Participant Whose Personal
   Belief Triggered the Disclosure in this Template (Optional)

   Name:

   Title:

   Department:

   Address:

   Telephone:

   Fax:

   Email:

   IV. IETF Document or Contribution to Which Patent Disclosure Relates

   Title:

   RFC Number or I-D Tag:

   Other Designations:

   V. Disclosure of Patent Information (i.e., patents or patent
   applications required to be disclosed by Section 6 of RFC 3668)

   A. For granted patents or published pending patent applications,
   please provide the following information:

   Patent, Serial, Publication, Registration, or Application/File
   number(s):

   Date(s) granted or applied for (YYYY-MM-DD):

   Country(ies):

   B. Does your disclosure relate to an unpublished pending patent
   application?

   Select one:  Yes  ______  No ______









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   C. If an Internet-Draft or RFC includes multiple parts and it is not
   reasonably apparent which part of such an Internet-Draft or RFC is
   alleged to be covered by the patent information disclosed in Section
   V(A) or V(B), it is helpful if the discloser identifies here the
   sections of the Internet-Draft or RFC that are alleged to be so
   covered.

   VI. Licensing Declaration

   The Patent Holder states that its position with respect to licensing
   any patent claims contained in the patent(s) or patent application(s)
   disclosed above that would necessarily be infringed by implementation
   of the technology required by the relevant IETF specification
   ("Necessary Patent Claims"), for the purpose of implementing such a
   specification, is as follows (select one licensing declaration option
   only):

   a) ___   No License Required for Implementers
              Check here if commitment to forgo a license is limited
              solely to standards-track RFCs ___

   b) ___   Royalty-Free, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory License to
            All Implementers
              Check here if this commitment to license is limited solely
              to standards-track RFCs ___

   c) ___   Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory License to All
            Implementers with Possible Royalty/Fee
              Check here if this commitment to license is limited solely
              to standards-track RFCs ___

   d) ___   Licensing Declaration to be Provided Later (implies a
            willingness to commit to the provisions of a), b), or c)
            above; otherwise, the next option - "Unwilling to Commit to
            the Provisions of a), b), or c) Above" - must be selected)

   e) ___   Unwilling to Commit to the Provisions of a), b), or c)
            Above

   NOTE: The individual submitting this template represents and warrants
   that he or she is authorized by the Patent Holder to agree to the
   above-selected licensing declaration.

   VII. Contact Information of Submitter of this Form (if different from
   IETF Participant in Section III above)






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RFC 3905     Patent Disclosures and Licensing DeclarationsSeptember 2004


   Name:

   Title:

   Department:

   Address:

   Telephone:

   Fax:

   Email:

   VIII. Other Notes:

   END OF TEMPLATE

3.  Commentary on Terms Used in the Template

   Section III requests contact information for the Patent Holder's IETF
   participant whose personal belief that necessary patent claims are
   implicated by an IETF document or contribution caused this template
   to be filed.  This is an optional section.  However, if Section III
   is not completed, then Section VII must be completed.  Even if
   Section III is completed, Section VII must still be completed if the
   submitter of this template is different from the IETF participant
   identified in Section III.

   The "Other Designations" field in Section IV may be used to identify
   an IETF contribution (oral or written) other than an Internet-Draft
   or RFC to which a disclosure is related.

   Here is an explanation of the licensing declaration options in
   Section VI of the template:

   a) No License Required for Implementers: The Patent Holder does not
      require parties to acquire any license to its Necessary Patent
      Claims in order to make, have made, use, import, offer to sell,
      sell, or distribute technology that implements such an IETF
      specification.

   b) Royalty-Free, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory License to All
      Implementers: The Patent Holder is willing, upon request, to grant
      a license to its Necessary Patent Claims to all persons on a
      royalty-free basis (i.e., no royalty or other fee) and under other
      reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions, to make,




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      have made, use, import, offer to sell, sell, and distribute
      technology that implements such an IETF specification.

   c) Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory License to All Implementers with
      Possible Royalty/Fee: The Patent Holder is willing, upon request,
      to grant a license to its Necessary Patent Claims to all persons
      under reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions
      (which may include a royalty/fee), to make, have made, use,
      import, offer to sell, sell, and distribute technology that
      implements such an IETF specification.

   d) Licensing Declaration to be Provided Later: The Patent Holder is
      willing to commit to the provisions of a), b), or c) above, but
      wants to defer its specific selection of one of these licensing
      declaration options until a later point in time (or when asked for
      this information by the IESG).  This option may not be selected if
      the Patent Holder is unwilling to commit to the provisions of a),
      b), or c) above.  In that case, the Patent Holder must select
      licensing declaration option e) - "Unwilling to Commit to the
      Provisions of a), b), or c) Above."

   e) Unwilling to Commit to the Provisions of a), b), or c) Above: The
      Patent Holder indicates an unwillingness to commit to the
      provisions of any of options a), b), or c) described above.

   Options a), b), and c) above also allow the Patent Holder to indicate
   (with a check) whether its licensing declaration is limited solely to
   standards-track RFCs.  If left unchecked, the Patent Holder's
   licensing declaration will be deemed to apply to any implementation
   of the relevant IETF specification, including non-standards-track
   documents and Internet-Drafts.  However, the Patent Holder may list
   other conditions or restrictions on its commitment to forego a
   license (option a)) or on its commitment to license (options b) and
   c)) in Section VIII - "Other Notes."  This standards-track qualifier
   is not relevant to licensing declaration options d) and e), because
   under d) the Patent Holder has not yet indicated its specific
   licensing intention and under e) the Patent Holder has indicated a
   general refusal to commit to the provisions of any of options a), b),
   or c) above.

   Section VIII in the template, "Other Notes," may be used for any
   additional information a discloser or Patent Holder wishes to
   provide.  For example, a Patent Holder may use the "Other Notes"
   Section to indicate any other conditions or restrictions on the
   licensing declaration option selected in Section VI (e.g., 1)
   reciprocity, or 2) that a license will only be made available for
   implementations of any RFC (standards-track or non-standards-track),
   but not for implementations of Internet-Drafts or other documents).



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4.  Security Considerations

   This document relates to the IETF process, not any particular
   technology.  There are security considerations when adopting any
   particular technology, regardless of whether patent or patent
   application disclosures or licensing declarations are implicated by
   such technology.  A working group should take those security
   considerations into account as one part of evaluating the technology,
   but there are no security considerations per se with these IETF
   processes.

5.  Normative References

   [RFC3668] Bradner, S., "Intellectual Property Rights in IETF
             Technology", BCP 79, RFC 3668, February 2004.

6.  Acknowledgments

   The authors acknowledge the thoughtful contributions of Harald
   Alvestrand and Scott Bradner to this document.































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7.  Editor's Address

   Valerie See
   Microsoft Corporation
   One Microsoft Way
   Redmond, WA 98052 USA

   EMail: vsee@microsoft.com

8.  Authors' Addresses

   Robert Barr
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   170 West Tasman Drive
   San Jose, CA 95134 USA

   EMail: rbarr@cisco.com


   Scott Brim
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   146 Honess Lane
   Ithaca, NY 14850 USA

   EMail: sbrim@cisco.com


   Paul Gleichauf
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   170 West Tasman Drive
   San Jose, CA 95134 USA

   EMail: phg@cisco.com


   Allen Lo
   Juniper Networks
   1194 North Mathilda Ave.
   Sunnyvale, CA 94089 USA

   EMail: alo@juniper.net










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9.  Full Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004).

   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/S HE
   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 IETF's procedures with respect to rights in IETF 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.







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