Re: IAOC Responsibilities
2005-02-03 09:41:54
This also calls for a serious review of the related liabilities. If these
rights are challenged who is going to pay to sustain the action and the
possible damages? Since IASA is not incorporated will the IAOC Members, the
ISOC be liable? The ISOC internal relations with their national Chapters
makes that if ISOC is the legal entity, ISOC local Chapters may be
challenged locally - in toto or in parte, depending on the local law,
context and magnitude of the case.
There is no ISOC/personal IAOC insurance budget discussed. No insurance
company wants to cover the snow ball Internet risks: yet the IETF
responsibility may be deemed huge should a catastrophic situation arise due
to its standards (or lack of, as in spam). I do not want to harp on this,
but this total lack about risks evaluation - already just in the USA - and
about international liability/rights of the concerned parties seems odd to
me. I know this is a case study, but would Robert Kahn not be happy with
the BCP and sues ISOC, he will be able to use the lack of the words he
proposes to show he made everything to protect the IETF rights even against
his own rights. Who will pay for the lawyers and for the damages he might
obtain?
jfc
PS. I read Harald's question to Robert Khan about leaving IASA to decide.
This seems OK, but very weak if not backed by some wording in the BCP
because IASA has no legal reality. The few words I propose limit the
responsibilities of the ISOC Chapters and remove US legal constraints,
words of Robert with a possible "ISOC shall study and agree ..." about an
IPR and financial responsibilities, are mandatory.
At 13:45 03/02/2005, Robert Kahn wrote:
I continue to remain concerned that the BCP is not flexible enough to
allow the IAOC to assume administrative responsibilities for acting as a
trustee for IETF-owned IP. There needs to be a specific task added to the
IAOC responsibilities for this purpose. Specifically, the following words
should be added to the list of IAOC responsibilities: "Serve as Trustee
for IETF assets including, without limitation, intellectual property and
domain names."
Patrice's comment below is particularly important where licensing and
other management tasks related to "donated patents" are concerned. Simply
designating IASA to be responsible has too many operational problems to be
workable in practice. In light of the interrelationship between the
administration of IETF assets and the potential impact on IETF Standards
activities, the IAOC should retain the primary responsibility for managing
IETF assets in the first instance, even if the IAOC were to delegate the
day to day administrative tasks such as sublicensing to others (e.g. to
the IAD).
Bob
------------------
From: "Patrice Lyons" <palyons(_at_)bellatlantic(_dot_)net>
To: "Robert Kahn" <rkahn(_at_)cnri(_dot_)reston(_dot_)va(_dot_)us>
Subject: IP matters
Bob,
There is a recent discussion on the IETF list that raises certain
questions. In particular, take a look at the statement: "The IASA is
responsible for managing all intellectual property rights (IPR) . . . that
belong to the IETF." Since the IETF is not incorporated, it is at best
unclear whether the IETF is capable of owning copyrights, patents,
trademarks or any other rights or interests. There are simple procedures
that may be required to enable this such as filing appropriate documents
with the Virginia state authorities.
Also, since the IASA does not appear to be a legal person, but rather an
activity or process having two components: IAD and IAOC, where would the
responsibility for managing the so-called IPR reside in the first instance
and who would decide? For example, if the IAD is an employee of ISOC, a
license agreement between the IETF and ISOC would be required to authorize
the IAD to use the IETF marks and to sublicense the marks to IETF service
providers. Who has signature authority for this purpose? From a CNRI
perspective, it would appear prudent to task the IAOC with the
responsibility for entering into such a license agreement with ISOC, and
to oversee quality of service standards with respect to the activities of
the IAD using the IETF marks.
Regards,
Patrice Lyons
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