Subject: Re: draft-ietf-ipr-rules-update-00.txt

From: Nathanael Nerode <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2005 21:10:48 -0400

Joel Halpern wrote:
>However, it is not clear to me that it is necessary to permit modification of 
>the actual RFCs.
Nobody is suggesting allowing "modification of the actual RFCs" -- the actual 
RFCs are those provided by the IETF.  We are suggesting that the creation of 
*different works*, which contain substantial amounts of text from the RFCs 
but do not pretend to be RFCs, should be allowed.
 
>And while we can not prevent folks from creating confusion about what the RFC 
>actually says, we can at least set up the rules to try to make it clear that 
>the RFC is the RFC and not some modificaiton thereof.
Exactly the goal.  This cannot be accomplished by broad copyright restrictions 
on creation of derivative works (I can always create a copyright-unencumbered 
document and label it "RFC 1234") -- such restrictions, however, cause lots 
of other problems, by preventing the RFCs from being free software.

This goal *can* be accomplished by trademarking "RFC" in the context of 
standards documents, and applying strict trademark restrictions, prohibiting 
"RFC 1234" from being used to refer to any document other than the IETF's 
official published RFC 1234.  ("RFC" is almost certainly already an 
unregistered trademark under US law, and you don't actually need to register 
it to get protections, though it would be wise.)  This is entirely compatible 
with making the RFCs free software.

>Maybe I am misunderstanding what Simon Josefsson has asked for, but the above 
>is what I thought I had heard, and my personal reaction.
Yeah, you misunderstood it completely.  It's an incredibly common 
misunderstanding, though, so don't feel bad.

-- 
Nathanael Nerode  <[email-masked]>

"(Instead, we front-load the flamewars and grudges in
the interest of efficiency.)" --Steve Lanagasek,
http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/09/msg01056.html

_______________________________________________
Ipr-wg mailing list
[email-masked]
https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ipr-wg