RFC 3669 (rfc3669) - Page 1 of 17
Guidelines for Working Groups on Intellectual Property Issues
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group S. Brim
Request for Comments: 3669 Cisco Systems, Inc.
Updates: 2026 February 2004
Category: Informational
Guidelines for Working Groups on Intellectual Property Issues
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This memo lays out a conceptual framework and rules of thumb useful
for working groups dealing with Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
issues. It documents specific examples of how IPR issues have been
dealt with in the IETF.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. The Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. The Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4. Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4.1. PPP CCP and ECP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4.2. IPS WG (IP Storage). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.3. PEM and PKI issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.4. VRRP (Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol). . . . . . . . 6
4.5. Secure Shell (SecSH) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.6. IDN (Internationalized Domain Name). . . . . . . . . . . 7
5. General Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5.1. Types of IPR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5.2. When to Think About IPR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.3. IPR as a Technology Evaluation Factor. . . . . . . . . . 9
5.4. Patents versus Pending Patents Applied For . . . . . . . 10
5.5. Applicability: It's Hard to Prove a Negative . . . . . . 11
5.6. Licensing Terms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.7. Third-Party Disclosure of IPR Claims . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.7.1 Third-Party Disclosure Advice. . . . . . . . . . . 14
6. Security Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
7. Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Brim Informational
