Subject: RE: Require disclosure from those who implement RFCs?

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 11:15:21 -0500

> Can we constrain the implementers of IETF standards?

Only by their participation in IETF.  Adding a "shrink wrap" license
to RFCs that can cause loss of patent rights solely as a consequence
of implementing something described in a public document seems wrong.

>     For instance, would it be possible or appropriate to require that
> those who implement or claim to implement IETF standards are required
> to disclose any IPR rights they have in the standards implemented?

Already required of participants in the IETF.

> Implementation without disclosure would be taken as a grant of
> RF rights to other implementers of the standard.

Already enough of a legal risk for IETF participants as to achieve the
bulk of the achievable results.  An IETF participant who ignores the
disclosure obligation and attempts to enforce the patent involved runs
the risk of a court declaring the patent unenforceable, which is even
better than RF, as no license is required (e.g., no reciprocal rights
clauses).

>     This might involve adding additional boilerplate to the body of
> Internet Drafts and RFCs. It could be extended perhaps by trademarking
> the "RFC" name so that the use of "RFCxxxx" would be controllable.

The most likely result is to cause the marketers to find an innovative
way to say "conforms to RFC xxxx" without using trademarked or controlled
language.

>    The idea is to flush out submarine claims as early as possible by
> forcing an implementer to have to trade off earlier than desired
> disclosure against the ability to claim a conforming implementation.

A worthy goal, but I don't think it justifies putting what amounts
to a "shrink wrap" license on RFCs.  There are trademark management
schemes whose contracts for use of the trademark impose legal and
technical requirements on users of the trademark ("Unix" and "WiFi"
come to mind), but (IMHO) the creation and management of such
schemes is better left to organizations other than the IETF.

Thanks,
--David
----------------------------------------------------
David L. Black, Senior Technologist
EMC Corporation, 176 South St., Hopkinton, MA  01748
+1 (508) 293-7953             FAX: +1 (508) 293-7786
[email-masked]        Mobile: +1 (978) 394-7754
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