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RE: An Antitrust Policy for the IETF

2011-12-01 11:10:06
From: IETF Chair [chair(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org]

The IETF legal counsel and insurance agent suggest that the IETF ought
to have an antitrust policy.  To address this need, a lawyer is
needed.

My first observation is that the IETF legal counsel is a lawyer, so we
have that covered.  Then I thought about it and realized that the IETF
counsel may not be the right type of lawyer.  Then I thought about it
some more and realized that the choice of lawyer might be *very*
important.

Ideally, an antitrust policy is to prevent future legal problems,
especially lawsuits.  Unfortunately, lawyers on the whole tend to
suggest solutions to problems that create additional legal work.  And
the situation of the IETF creating an optimal antitrust policy is
hardly routine.  So we're going to want a lawyer with very good
judgment who understands the complications of antitrust law in an
international context.

I have no idea how to go about it, but selecting a good lawyer for
this job is an important and nontrivial task.

Dale
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