Subject: Proposed IESG Statement on IPR Declarations

From: IESG Secretary <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 07 Jul 2016 13:21:22 -0700

The IESG is considering an IESG statement on IPR Declarations, and would 
like to solicit comments from the community on the proposed text. The 
proposed text is provided below.

The IESG will make a decision about this matter shortly. Please provide 
comments, if any, to [email-masked] or to the IESG at [email-masked] 
before July 31, 2016.

——

IESG Statement on IPR Declarations:

BCP 79 discusses Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) within the IETF 
process and technologies being worked on at the IETF.

Among other things, BCP 79 specifies how and when IPR disclosures ought 
to be made. The purpose of such disclosures is to inform IETF 
participants and those that use IETF technologies about IPR that may be 
associated with the technology in question.

The IESG also observes that the IETF posts all IPR disclosures (other 
than obvious spam, which is not an IPR disclosure), as they are 
received, in our IPR disclosure database. This database is available at 
https://www.ietf.org/ipr/.

However, as noted in BCP 79, the IETF will make no determination about 
the validity of any particular IPR claim. Neither the IETF nor the IESG 
makes any attempt to verify patent validity or the validity of any other 
statements in the IPR disclosure text. As BCP 79, Sec. 4(B) indicates:

"The IESG disclaims any responsibility for identifying the
existence of or for evaluating the applicability of any IPR,
disclosed or otherwise, to any IETF technology, specification or
standard, and will take no position on the validity or scope of
any such IPR claims."

The material posted as IPR disclosures should be viewed as originating 
from the source of that information, and any issue or question related 
to the material should be directed to the source rather than the IETF. 
There is no implied endorsement or agreement by the IETF or the IESG 
with any of the material.