Fwd: ANNOUNCEMENT: The IETF Trustees invite your review and comments on a proposed Work-Around to the Pre-5378 Problem

[Alexa Morris <[e-mail]>]

I apologize for the delayed distribution to the IETF-Announce list of  
this particular message, but please see below for a message originally  
sent on January 8, 2009 on behalf of the IETF Trustees. If you have  
not already been following it, please note that there is a very active  
discussion of this issue taking place on [e-mail].

Regards,
Alexa


Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Ed Juskevicius" <[e-mail]>
> Date: January 8, 2009 1:43:50 PM PST
> To: "'IETF Discussion'" <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail] 
> >, <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]>
> Cc: 'Trustees' <[e-mail]>
> Subject: ANNOUNCEMENT: The IETF Trustees invite your review and  
> comments on a proposed Work-Around to the Pre-5378 Problem
>
> The purpose of this message is twofold:
>
> 1) To summarize the issues that some members of our community
>   have experienced since the publication of RFC 5378 in November 2008,
>   and
> 2) To invite community review and discussion on a potential work- 
> around
>   being considered by the IETF Trustees.
>
> Some I-D authors are having difficulty implementing RFC 5378.  An
> example of the difficulty is as follows:
>
>  - an author wants to include pre-5378 content in a new submission
>    or contribution to the IETF, but
>  - s/he is not certain that all of the author(s) of the earlier
>    material have agreed to license it to the IETF Trust according
>    to RFC 5378.
>
> If an I-D author includes pre-5378 material in a new document, then  
> s/he
> must represent or warrant that all of the authors who created the
> pre-5378 material have granted rights for that material to the IETF  
> Trust.
> If s/he cannot make this assertion, then s/he has a problem.
>
> This situation has halted the progression of some Internet-Drafts and
> interrupted the publication of some RFCs.  The Trustees of the IETF  
> Trust
> are investigating ways to implement a temporary work-around so that  
> IETF
> work can continue to progress.  A permanent solution to this "pre-5378
> problem" may require an update to RFC 5378, for example new work by  
> the
> community to create a 5378-bis document.
>
> The remainder of this message provides an outline of the temporary  
> work-
> around being considered by the Trustees.
>
> RFC 5378 sections 1.j and 5.3.c provide the IETF Trust with the
> authority to develop legend text for authors to use in situations  
> where
> they wish to limit the granting of rights to modify and prepare
> derivatives of the documents they submit.  The Trustees used this
> authority in 2008 to develop and adopt the current "Legal Provisions
> Relating to IETF Documents" which are posted at:
> http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info/.
>
> The Trustees are now considering the creation of optional new legend  
> text
> which could be used by authors experiencing the "pre-5378 problem".
>
> The new legend text, if implemented, would do the following:
>
>  a. Provide Authors and Contributors with a way to identify (to the
>     IETF Trust) that their contributions contain material from  
> pre-5378
>     documents for which RFC 5378 rights to modify the material outside
>     the IETF standards process may not have been granted, and
>
>  b. Provide the IETF Trust and the community with a clear indication
>     of every document containing pre-5378 content and having the
>     "pre-5378 problem".
>
> So, how could the creation and use of some new legend text help people
> work-around the pre-5378 problem?
>
> The proposed answer is as follows:
>
>  1. Anyone having a contribution with the "pre-5378" problem should  
> add
>     new legend text to the contribution, to clearly flag that it  
> includes
>     pre-5378 material for which all of the rights needed under RFC  
> 5378
>     may not have been granted, and
>
>  2. The IETF Trust will consider authors and contributors (with the
>     pre-5378 problem) to have met their RFC 5378 obligations if the
>     new legend text appears on their documents, and
>
>  3. Authors and contributors should only resort to adding the new
>     legend text to their documents (per #1) if they cannot develop
>     certainty that all of the author(s) of pre-5378 material in
>     their documents have agreed to license the pre-5378 content to
>     the IETF Trust according to RFC 5378.
>
> The proposed wording for the new legend text is now available for your
> review and comments in section 6.c.iii of a draft revision to the
> IETF Trust's "Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents" located at
> http://trustee.ietf.org/policyandprocedures.html.
>
> Please note that the above document also contains new text in  
> section 5.c
> dealing with "License Limitations".
>
> If your review and feedback on this proposed work-around is positive,
> then the new text may be adopted by the Trustees in early February  
> 2009,
> and then be published as an official revision to the Legal Provisions
> document.  If so adopted, Internet-Drafts with pre-5378 material may
> advance within the Internet standards process and get published as  
> RFCs
> where otherwise qualified to do so.  Unless covered by sections  
> 6.c.i or
> 6.c.ii, authors of documents in which there is no pre-5378
> material must provide a RFC 5378 license with no limitation on
> modifications outside the IETF standards process.
>
> The IETF Trust will not grant the right to modify or prepare  
> derivative
> works of any specific RFC or other IETF Contribution outside the IETF
> standards process until RFC 5378 rights pertaining to that document  
> have
> been obtained from all authors and after compliance by the IETF Trust
> with RFC 5377.  The Trustees will establish one or more mechanisms by
> which authors of pre-5378 documents may grant RFC 5378 rights.
>
> The Trustees hereby invite your review, comments and suggestions on  
> this
> proposed work-around to the "pre-5378 problem".  The period for this  
> review
> is 30 days.  Microsoft WORD and PDF versions of the proposed  
> revisions are
> attached to this message.  Copies are also available on the IETF Trust
> website under the heading "DRAFT Policy and Procedures Being  
> Developed" at:
> http://trustee.ietf.org/policyandprocedures.html
>
> All feedback submitted before the end of February 7th will be  
> considered by
> the Trustees.  A decision on whether to move forward with this  
> proposal will
> be made and communicated to you before the end of February 15th.
>
> Please give this your attention.
>
> Regards and Happy New Year !
>
> Ed Juskevicius, on behalf of the IETF Trustees
> [e-mail]
> _______________________________________________
> Ietf mailing list
> [e-mail]
> https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf

-----------
Alexa Morris / Executive Director / IETF
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Phone: [phone] / Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

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