On 12/23/2016 12:17 PM, Dave Taht wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 23, 2016 at 11:44 AM,  <[email protected]> wrote:
>> My understanding is that it is already settled case law that contributed 
>> code to a GPL licensed projects implicitly grants a perpetual, royalty free 
>> license to use any applicable patent the author uses in the code.
> 
> According to this it is not settled case law in the UK. Apache, on the
> other hand...
> 
> http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Patent_clauses_in_software_licences#Apache_License_2.0
> 
> 
>> Of course there is no case law regarding patent s in other licenses, in 
>> particular MIT and BSD, which have no strong copyleft provisions.
> 
> Yes, I think *mandating* that ietf contributions be under a weak,
> unsettled license is fraught with problems.

The code inside an RFC is always under a Simplified BSD License, but that is 
not what the License described below is about.  It is about the text of the RFC 
itself, which is under a far more restrictive license (which is why Debian, 
among others, cannot redistribute RFCs) on the copyright side, and that require 
mandatory disclosure on the patent side.

> 
>>
>> This issue of submarine patent traps is important in communications protocol 
>> invention. Protocol patents are far worse than software patents... IMO, 
>> communications protocols should never be property. IESG is struggling to 
>> create a middle ground, where there should be no middle, IMO.
> 

Aren't communication protocols mathematics, e.g. propositions in linear logic, 
and so unpatentable?

> Tend to agree.
> 
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: "Marc Petit-Huguenin" <[email protected]>
>> Sent: Fri, Dec 23, 2016 at 2:23 pm
>> To: "Dave Taht" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" 
>> <[email protected]>
>> Cc: "Dave Taht" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" 
>> <[email protected]>
>> Subject: Re: [Cerowrt-devel] Fwd: License File for Open Source Repositories
>>
>> On 12/23/2016 08:05 AM, Dave Taht wrote:
>>> I have no idea what they are trying to do.
>>
>> This is to prevent people to propose text to be included in a specification 
>> without disclosing that this may be relevant to a patent or patent 
>> application they own or know about.  As soon you make a contribution, you 
>> are supposed to disclose such IPR in the IETF database.  This text makes it 
>> explicit that anything done in such repository is covered by the same 
>> requirements.
>>
>> An alternative would have been a variant of the Signed-off-by header, but as 
>> the repository does not extend to the RFC-editor or the IETF Trust, that's, 
>> the best that can be done for now.
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>> From: IESG Secretary
>>> Date: Fri, Dec 23, 2016 at 7:36 AM
>>> Subject: License File for Open Source Repositories
>>> To: IETF Announcement List
>>> Cc: [email protected], [email protected]
>>>
>>>
>>> The IESG has observed that many working groups work with open source
>>> repositories even for their work on specifications. That's great, and
>>> we're happy to see this development, as it fits well the working style
>>> of at least some of our working groups. This style is also likely to be
>>> more popular in the future.
>>>
>>> As always, we'd like to understand areas where we can either be helpful
>>> in bringing in some new things such as tooling, or where we need to
>>> integrate better between the repository world and the IETF process. As
>>> an example of the latter, we're wondering whether it would be helpful to
>>> have a standard boilerplate for these repositories with respect to the
>>> usual copyright and other matters. The intent is for such text to be
>>> placed in a suitable file (e.g., "CONTRIBUTING"), probably along with
>>> some additional information that is already present in these files in
>>> many repositories. The idea is that people should treat, e.g., text
>>> contributions to a draft-foo.xml in a repository much in the same way as
>>> they treat text contributions on the list, at least when it comes to
>>> copyright, IPR, and other similar issues.
>>>
>>> We have worked together with the IETF legal team and few key experts
>>> from the IETF who are actively using these repositories, and suggest the
>>> following text.
>>>
>>> We're looking to make a decision on this matter on our January 19th,
>>> 2017 IESG Telechat, and would appreciate feedback before then. This
>>> message will be resent after the holiday period is over to make sure it
>>> is noticed. Please send comments to the IESG ([email protected]) by 2017-01-17.
>>>
>>> The IESG
>>>
>>> ——
>>>
>>> This repository relates to activities in the Internet Engineering Task
>>> Force(IETF). All material in this repository is considered Contributions
>>> to the IETF Standards Process, as defined in the intellectual property
>>> policies of IETF currently designated as BCP 78
>>> (https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/bcp78), BCP 79
>>> (https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/bcp79) and the IETF Trust Legal
>>> Provisions (TLP) Relating to IETF Documents
>>> (http://trustee.ietf.org/trust-legal-provisions.html).
>>>
>>> Any edit, commit, pull-request, comment or other change made to this
>>> repository constitutes Contributions to the IETF Standards Process. You
>>> agree to comply with all applicable IETF policies and procedures,
>>> including, BCP 78, 79, the TLP, and the TLP rules regarding code
>>> components (e.g. being subject to a Simplified BSD License) in
>>> Contributions.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>



-- 
Marc Petit-Huguenin
Email: [email protected]
Blog: https://marc.petit-huguenin.org
Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petithug


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