Subject: Community Input Requested on Trustees’ Intent to Renounce “IETF Secretariat” Trademark

From: IETF Administrative Director <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 11:00:01 -0700

All;

The Trustees of the IETF Trust have voted an intent to renounce (abandon) the “IETF Secretariat” 
trademark, but before taking any action they desire to hear from the community.  

Specifically:  

It is the Trustees’ intent to:

1. Not renew the “IETF Secretariat” trademark, Registration 3860848, in the European Community 
at an approximate cost of $5,000 USD for a ten-year period when due on May 28, 2014, and 
thereby renounce the trademark as having no foreseeable future value in accordance with Article 7.1a 
of the Amended and Restated Trust Agreement, <http://trustee.ietf.org/trust-agreement-2014.html>.  
The trademark has no foreseeable future value as the “IETF” trademark is registered in the European 
Community and its use with Secretariat is protected.

2. Not renew the “IETF Secretariat” trademark, Registration 2392833, in the United States at an unknown 
future cost when the trademark expires on October 10, 2020, and thereby renounce the trademark as 
having no foreseeable future value in accordance with Article 7.1a of the Amended and Restated Trust 
Agreement, <http://trustee.ietf.org/trust-agreement-2014.html>.  The trademark has no foreseeable 
future value as the “IETF” trademark is registered in the United States and its use with Secretariat is 
protected.

Authority:

The Trustees have the authority to renounce the trademark in accordance with Article 7.1a of the 
Amended and Restated Trust Agreement after consulting with the Beneficiary.   
<http://trustee.ietf.org/trust-agreement-2014.html>

This Article states in relevant part:
"the Trustees may, after due consultation with the Beneficiary, dispose of, assign, sell, transfer, 
renounce, convey or terminate Trust Assets that are of no current or foreseeable future value to 
the Beneficiary and which require the expenditure of funds to retain.This exception does not 
include RFCs.”

The purpose of this announcement is to begin the consultation with the Beneficiary, the IETF 
Community.  This thirty (30) day comment period expires on 5 May 2014.  The Trustees will consider 
the Community input before making a decision whether to renounce the “IETF Secretariat” trademark 
or not.  

Your feedback is appreciated.

Thanks
Ray Pelletier
IETF Administrative Director
Trustee
IETF Trust