RFC 3978 Update to Recognize the IETF Trust
Shifts IETF copyright management to a new trust organization
Bradner, S., Ed., "RFC 3978 Update to Recognize the IETF Trust", RFC 4748, DOI 10.17487/RFC4748, October 2006, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4748>.
@misc{rfc4748,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 4748,
howpublished = {RFC 4748},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC4748},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4748},
author = {S. Bradner},
title = {{RFC 3978 Update to Recognize the IETF Trust}},
pagetotal = 4,
year = 2006,
month = oct,
} RFC text
Contents
Network Working Group S. Bradner, Ed.
Request for Comments: 4748 Harvard University
BCP: 78 October 2006
Updates: 3978
Category: Best Current Practice
RFC 3978 Update to Recognize the IETF Trust
Status of This Memo
This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2006).
Abstract
This document updates RFC 3978 "IETF Rights in Contributions" to
recognize that the IETF Trust is now the proper custodian of all
IETF-related intellectual property rights.
This document does not constrain how the IETF Trust exercises those
rights.
1. Introduction
1.1. IETF Trust
Currently the IETF requires that authors of Contributions to the IETF
grant to the IETF (meaning the full set of participants in the IETF
Standards Process) a limited set of non-exclusive rights and
permissions as part of the process of submitting such Contribution.
These rights and permissions are detailed in "IETF Rights in
Contributions" (RFC 3978 - BCP 78) [RFC3978].
The IETF Trust was recently formed to act as the administrative
custodian of all copyrights and other intellectual property rights
relating to the IETF Standards Process that had previously been held
by ISOC and the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI)
(see [IETF_Trust_Agmt]).
The IETF is supported by an IETF Administrative Support Activity
(IASA) defined in BCP 101 [BCP101]. BCP 101 was updated by [RFC4371]
to recognize the creation of the IETF Trust.
This document updates RFC 3978 in order to recognize the IETF Trust
and to implement the structure needed to support it. Most
importantly, it alters the license-grant path as follows: whereas
previously, authors of Contributions to the IETF would grant a
license to ISOC, such authors will grant a license to the IETF Trust
(in Section 3.3). This document concerns itself only with changes to
RFC 3978 needed to recognize the creation of the IETF Trust.
This introductory section is to provide context for the reader.
Section 2 of this document is intended to be normative.
2. Updates to RFC 3978
The text of RFC 3978 is hereby updated as set forth below to reflect
the creation of the IETF Trust.
2.1. Update Introduction
In the third paragraph of Section 2, replace "IETF and Internet
Society (ISOC)" with "IETF Trust and the IETF" and replace "IETF and
ISOC" with "IETF Trust and the IETF".
2.2. Update Section 3.3
In Section 3.3, replace two instances of "ISOC and the IETF" and one
instance of "IETF and ISOC" with "IETF Trust and the IETF".
2.3. Update Section 3.4
In Section 3.4(b), add "IETF Trust, " after "IETF,".
2.4. Update Section 4.2
In Section 4.2, replace two instances of "ISOC and the IETF" and one
instance of "IETF and ISOC" with "IETF Trust and the IETF".
2.5. Update Section 5
In Section 5 change two instances of "ISOC" to "IETF Trust".
2.6. Update Copyright Statement
Replace "Internet Society" with "IETF Trust" in the copyright
statement in Section 5.4.
2.7. Update Section 5.5
In Section 5.5 insert ", THE IETF TRUST" after "INTERNET SOCIETY".
2.8. Update Section 5.6
In Section 5.6, replace all occurrences of "Internet Society" or
"ISOC" with "IETF Trust".
2.9. Update Section 7.1
In Section 7.1, replace two instances of "IETF/ISOC" with "IETF Trust
and IETF".
2.10. Update Section 8
In Section 8, insert ", the IETF Trust" after "ISOC".
3. Security Considerations
This type of process document does not have a direct impact on the
security of the Internet or Internet protocols.
4. References
4.1. Normative References
[RFC3978] Bradner, S., Ed., "IETF Rights in Contributions",
BCP 78, RFC 3978, March 2005.
[BCP101] Austein, R. and B. Wijnen, "Structure of the IETF
Administrative Support Activity (IASA)," BCP 101,
RFC 4071, April 2005.
[RFC4371] Carpenter, B. and L. Lynch, Ed., "BCP 101 Update
for IPR Trust," RFC 4371, January 2006.
[IETF_Trust_Agmt] www.ietf.org/trust/IETFtrustAgreement20051208.pdf
Editor's Address
Scott Bradner
Harvard University
29 Oxford St.
Cambridge MA, 02138
Phone: +1 617 495 3864
EMail: sob@harvard.edu
Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2006).
This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors
retain all their rights.
This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
"AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY, THE IETF TRUST,
AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT
THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE.
Intellectual Property
The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to
pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has
made any independent effort to identify any such rights. Information
on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be
found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
http://www.ietf.org/ipr.
The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at
ietf-ipr@ietf.org.
Acknowledgement
Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF
Administrative Support Activity (IASA).
AI ELI5
On this page
§1The IETF Trust
The IETF requires authors contributing to the IETF Standards Process to grant certain rights and permissions relating to their work, documented in RFC 3978. Previously, these rights were granted to ISOC (Internet Society). However, the IETF Trust was created to act as the administrative custodian of all copyrights and intellectual property rights relating to the IETF Standards Process. This document updates RFC 3978 to recognize the IETF Trust as the proper recipient of these rights.
The IETF had rules about who owns the standards. A new Trust organization was created to manage ownership instead of the old Internet Society.
§2The Changes
RFC 4748 makes targeted edits to RFC 3978, replacing instances of "ISOC" and "Internet Society" with "IETF Trust and the IETF" throughout the document. Specifically, the license-grant path changes: authors now grant licenses directly to the IETF Trust rather than to ISOC. The updates affect the Introduction, sections on rights grants, authorization, copyright statements, and other provisions that reference the copyright holder. The document does not alter the underlying rights and permissions required from authors; it only changes who holds them.
The memo changes the rule book from "give rights to the Internet Society" to "give rights to the IETF Trust". Everything else stays the same.
§3Status and Succession
RFC 4748 is a Best Current Practice document that was itself superseded by RFC 5378 in May 2008. Both documents serve the same purpose: confirming the IETF Trust as the holder of IETF intellectual property. The IETF Trust does not constrain how it exercises those rights, allowing flexibility in licensing and reuse of IETF standards.
This memo updated the rules and later got replaced with a new version. The important part is that the Trust owns IETF intellectual property.