Subject: IPR

From: Tom-PT Taylor <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 14:59:49 -0400

I'm interpreting RFC 2026 with the help of guidance received from Scott
Bradner.  I'm sure he'll correct me if I don't have it right.

Under IETF rules (RFC 2026), participants in a discussion on any technical
aspect MUST disclose the existence (not the content) of any intellectual
property rights (IPR) affecting the matter under discussion of which they
have personal and reasonable knowledge.  This applies to discussion on the
list, discussion in meetings, and contributions by way of Internet Drafts.

While this is a duty on every participant, as referee of the process I
should have brought this rule to your attention earlier.  It is obviously a
bit late to control discussion which has already occurred, but we do have
documents with authors' names on them.  I therefore make the following
requests:
 -- if an author knows of IPR relating to the content of the document of
which he/she is an author, that author should either disclose that knowledge
or withdraw his/her name as author;
 -- discussants on the list or at a meeting should reveal their knowledge of
the existence of IPR relating to any particular topic under discussion or
stay out of that particular discussion.

Tom Taylor
Advisor -- IPConnect Standards
E-mail: [email-masked] (internally, Tom-PT Taylor)
Phone and FAX: +1 613 736 0961