RE: [alto] IPR Disclosure Carlos Pignataro's Statement about IPR related to draft-ietf-alto-deployments belonging to Alcatel Lucent

Carlos,

I can only comment on the second document listed in the third-party IPR disclosure (http://www.google.com/patents/WO2016039798A1#npl-citations). I have not been aware of the first one. Regarding the second patent application, I am a bit confused by the intent of this IPR disclosure. 

To add some context: There is a publication, and actually that text may be easier to read:

  Michael Scharf, Gordon T. Wilfong, Lisa Zhang: "Sparsifying network topologies for application guidance", Proceedings of IFIP/IEEE IM 2015, May 2015, pages 234-242 (http://dl.ifip.org/db/conf/im/im2015/135438.pdf)

That paper refers to draft-ietf-alto-deployments at various places to explain the background of ALTO (reference [4]). So, it is not surprise that draft-ietf-alto-deployments is cited in the patent application. I am not a lawyer. However, if I had assumed that an action according to RFC 3979 is required in this situation, an IPR disclosure would obviously have been submitted.

In general, draft-ietf-alto-deployments is a long informational document that surveys quite a number of use cases and technologies. Given that widely used technologies such as CDN optimization and methods to obtain dynamic connected-network topology via nodes are mentioned, it would be a huge surprise to me there was no other IPR "somehow" related to some wording in draft-ietf-alto-deployments, including e.g. IPR owned by Cisco Technology, Inc. However, I am not sure what value IPR disclosures have for such an informational document that does not give normative guidance.

Regarding the process, I am actually surprised that a patent search has been performed as part of an OPS-DIR review, given e.g. what is written in RFC 5706 Appendix A. And I think the wording of RFC 3979 Section 6.1.3 is that a third party IPR disclosure is "encouraged". So far I have assumed that this wording does not imply "mandatory". Maybe the IESG can better explain that?

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: Carlos Pignataro (cpignata) [mailto:cpignata@cisco.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2016 1:48 AM
To: Mirja Kühlewind
Cc: IETF discussion list; draft-ietf-alto-deployments@ietf.org; alto@ietf.org
Subject: Re: [alto] IPR Disclosure Carlos Pignataro's Statement about IPR related to draft-ietf-alto-deployments belonging to Alcatel Lucent

Hi, Mirja,

One clarification, for the record, inline.

> On Jul 4, 2016, at 11:47 AM, Mirja Kühlewind <mirja.kuehlewind@tik.ee.ethz.ch> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> find below an IPR disclosure that was filed last week related to draft-ietf-alto-deployments. This is a third-party disclosure for a patent application that lists this draft as ‚document to be considered related‘. See:
> 
> https://data.epo.org/publication-server/rest/v1.0/publication-dates/20
> 150902/patents/EP2913979NWA1/document.pdf
> 
> The IETF last call for draft-ietf-alto-deployments was performed between June 7 and June 21, 2016, while the IPR disclosure was submitted afterwards (as reaction to the OPS-DIR review).
> 

I was actually the OPS-Dir Reviewer assigned to draft-ietf-alto-deployments-15.

I submitted my OPS-Dir review delayed, after the IETF LC ended, because I was on vacation (and unreachable) when I received the OPS-Dir review assignment. As part of my review, as I came across those two (not only the one you include above) published patent applications potentially relating to the subject matter as indicated in non-patent citations, I had to submit that 3rd party disclosure.

Thanks,

— Carlos.

> If this disclosure raises any concerns regarding the publication of this draft as RFC, please state your opinion on the alto@ietf.org mailing.
> 
> Thanks,
> Mirja - responsible AD
> 
> 
>> Am 27.06.2016 um 17:42 schrieb IETF Secretariat <ietf-ipr@ietf.org>:
>> 
>> Dear Martin Stiemerling, Sebastian Kiesel, Stefano Previdi, Michael Scharf, Hans Seidel:
>> 
>> 
>> An IPR disclosure that pertains to your Internet-Draft entitled "ALTO 
>> Deployment Considerations" (draft-ietf-alto-deployments) was 
>> submitted to the IETF Secretariat on  and has been posted on the 
>> "IETF Page of Intellectual Property Rights Disclosures" 
>> (https://datatracker.ietf.org/ipr/2814/). The title of the IPR 
>> disclosure is "Carlos Pignataro's Statement about IPR related to draft-ietf-alto-deployments belonging to Alcatel Lucent"
>> 
>> 
>> Thank you
>> 
>> IETF Secretariat
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
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>> alto@ietf.org
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> 