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Re: Last Call: <draft-bradner-rfc3979bis-10.txt> (Intellectual Property Rights in IETF Technology) to Best Current Practice

2017-01-26 14:42:26
this is not new - see RFC 3979 section 4.1

Scott

On Jan 26, 2017, at 3:15 PM, David Rudin (CELA) 
<David(_dot_)Rudin(_at_)microsoft(_dot_)com> wrote:

I'd like to better understand the reasoning behind the changes in 4(D).  
Previously, the IESG did not make any determination regarding whether terms 
were reasonable and non-discriminatory.  The new text in that section now 
includes:

"If the two unrelated implementations of the specification that are required 
to advance from Proposed Standard to Standard have been produced by different 
organizations or individuals, or if the "significant implementation and 
successful operational experience" required to advance from Proposed Standard 
to Standard has been achieved, the IESG will presume that the terms are 
reasonable and to some degree non-discriminatory. Note that this also applies 
to the case where multiple implementers have concluded that no licensing is 
required."

It's not clear to me what IETF gains by making this presumption, especially 
given that the availability of two or more implementations does not mean that 
the implementers did any patent due diligence or licensing around the 
implementation.  It does, however, potentially expose IESG to risks in the 
event of patent litigation if implementers are basing their decisions on 
IESG's presumption.

David

-----Original Message-----
From: ietf [mailto:ietf-bounces(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org] On Behalf Of Jari Arkko
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2017 6:52 AM
To: ietf(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
Cc: draft-bradner-rfc3979bis(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
Subject: Re: Last Call: <draft-bradner-rfc3979bis-10.txt> (Intellectual 
Property Rights in IETF Technology) to Best Current Practice

You've seen the last call message come through, but as the AD responsible for 
this document, I wanted to follow-up with a description of where I think we 
are with the document.

This document went through a last call process in spring 2016, with a fair 
number of comments. We've taken the feedback in, and being less busy with the 
transition work that was undergoing last summer, have returned with a new 
document that we believe addresses those issues. The changes are substantial 
enough though that we think that a new last call is necessary.

Note that given some textual reorganisation, the document is difficult to 
compare to the original RFC. There is a changes section, but having a more 
detailed listing would be beneficial.
We have promised to provide this detailed section, and will do so within a 
week from now.

The spring 2016 comments have been listed in

https://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ietf/current/msg100236.html

along with some tentative solutions that were given for the editors. With 
some further discussion, I'm listing the main changes to the document from 
the previous last call below:

* Stephen Farrell's concern re: remote vs. in-person attendees
 was resolved without text changes (Jari's mail on March 22)

* Russ Housley's concern re: "IETF sanctioned" was resolved
 per Brian's and Harald's suggestions (Brian's mail on March 26).

* Russ Housley's concern re: changes from the previous RFC
 section is valid (Russ's mail on March 25), and we will be acting
 on that as explained above.

* Gonzalo Camarillo's concern re: ADs being assumed to read
 all documents in their area seemed valid and was fixed.

 We think that is incorrect if the future BCP on this topic explicitly
 rules everything in the area to be something where the AD
 participates in, even if he or she might not even be the AD
 for the group in question.

 We used a variation Spencer's wording (Spencer's mail on
 March 30).

 OLD:
 Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, acting as a
 working group chair or Area Director constitutes "Participating"
 in all activities of the relevant working group or area.
 NEW:
 Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, acting as a
 working group chair or Area Director constitutes "Participating"
 in all activities of the relevant working group or working groups
 he or she is responsible for in an area.

* A follow-up to Gonzalo's concern was raised later in the
 discussion re: ADs often seeing the materials late in the process.
 There seemed to be support for adding this to the document, which
 we have done:

 NEW:
 By the nature of their office, IETF area directors may become
 aware of Contributions late in the process (for example at IETF
 Last Call or during IESG review) and, therefore and in such
 cases, cannot be expected to disclose any IPR Covering those
 Contributions until they become aware of them.

* Alissa Cooper's editorial comments from her mail on April 1
 were acted up, except the first issue which was follow-up to
 Gonzalo's issue.

* There was some discussion of including the IRTF in the document
  in the same go, but the authors and the AD came to the
  conclusion that it introduces too many dependencies.

  Also, worth discussing during the last call, is that the new document
  refers to stream managers that have not really been well defined
  elsewhere.

* Pete Resnick suggested to put back in the three principles to
 Section 2 that were deleted from the previous RFC (April 11).
 We've done so; we should only make substantive changes
 to the original RFC when there's clear consensus to do so.

* Pete Resnick suggested to put back the material from
 RFC 3979 Section 4.1 that were deleted from the
 previous RFC (April 11), which we've also done.

* Note that Pete Resnick had a concern on forcing people to
 document applicability to the contribution 5.4.2 (April 11). This may
 require further discussion, although I personally am inclined to agree
 with Pete. I had posted a response on April 25, for which there
 was no other response. Needs further discussion during 2nd last call.

* Pete Resnick had a concern on adding the word "all" to Section 7
 (April 11). This was an oversight, and has been corrected.

* Section 7 has been amended to be clear that its latter part is for
 information only.

The changes to spring 2016 version of the I-D can be seen here:
https://www.ietf.org/rfcdiff?url1=draft-bradner-rfc3979bis-08&url2=draft-bradner-rfc3979bis-10

Jari Arkko, sponsoring AD for draft-bradner-rfc3979bis



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