Thanks for bringing this to IAOC, Benson!
A particular intricate problem is the potential IPR rule confliction between
IETF and other open source community/foundation, if a project is brought to
Hackathon from that community/foundation. This is especially problematic for
patent, where usually many open sources require free licensing, contrastively
IETF requires disclosure only if one knows.
- Miao
From: Benson Schliesser [mailto:bensons(_at_)queuefull(_dot_)net]
Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2015 6:20 AM
To: Sam Hartman
Cc: Brian E Carpenter; IETF Discussion; Miaofuyou (Miao Fuyou); Charles Eckel
(eckelcu); hackathon(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
Subject: Re: [hackathon] What is the IPR policy for Hackathon? RE: [94all] IETF
94 - Hackathon Information
On Wed, Sep 9, 2015 at 5:15 PM, Sam Hartman
<hartmans-ietf(_at_)mit(_dot_)edu<mailto:hartmans-ietf(_at_)mit(_dot_)edu>>
wrote:
"Brian" == Brian E Carpenter
<brian(_dot_)e(_dot_)carpenter(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com<mailto:brian(_dot_)e(_dot_)carpenter(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com>>
writes:
Brian> If somebody wants to provide their hackathon code to the
Brian> IETF, they could submit an Internet Draft whose body consists
Brian> of their code, between <CODE BEGINS> and <CODE ENDS>. Then it
Brian> becomes an IETF contribution with a Simplified BSD licence,
Brian> as I understand the IETF Trust's legal provisions.
[...]
I think marking something as code has nothing to do with the rights that
the IETF gets, it only affects whether the rest of the world can
actually use our contributions in open-source contexts.
I think that both of you are correct, as quoted above.
Of course, please note well that a Contribution to the IETF does not
necessarily have to take the form of a document. Thus, I think it is reasonable
to question whether code developed during the Hackathon is considered a
Contribution to the IETF. I am uncertain whether Hackathon code is inherently
Contributed by nature of being developed under the Note Well etc, or whether
its Contribution status is optional based on the author's intent. I believe the
latter is the case, but that is an open question to be confirmed. I've asked
the rest of the IAOC Legal Committee and the IETF's counsel to discuss this
question.
Even if code developed at a Hackathon is a Contribution (either inherently or
optionally), under IETF IPR rules the original author retains ownership rights
to the work and thus should be able to contribute it to non-IETF open source
projects as long as those projects accept contributions under a compatible
license. Likewise, existing "outside" open source code that is used at a
Hackathon is not necessarily a Contribution to the IETF unless the IPR owner
(e.g. original author) intends for it to be Contributed. Both of these aspects
(outgoing and incoming code) need to be described more clearly for the benefit
of the Hackathon community, and so I've also asked the IAOC Legal Committee and
IETF counsel to discuss this topic as well.
We will attempt to provide some additional guidance to the community after
we've performed appropriate diligence.
-Benson