[tlp-interest] Re: October 2025 Notice of Proposed Amendment to IETF IPMC Bylaws

[Russ Housley <[e-mail]>]

Jay:

We now have two parts of the community making conflicting requests.  The CCG explicitly asked for the Community Agreement to be referenced by the IETF IPMC Bylaws.  As I read the sentence, the Community Agreement places additional consideration on the IANA IPR but not other IETF IPMC assets.

Russ


> On Oct 28, 2025, at 3:39 PM, Jay Daley <[e-mail]> wrote:
> 
> 2. Removal of language effectively setting policy for IETF IP
> 
> The bylaws include the following as section 4.1 Use of Assets:
> 
>> The Assets shall be used for the benefit of the IETF as a whole, subject, with regard to the IANA IPR, to the Community Agreement, and not any individuals who may participate in IETF activities or either of the Settlors. In the event that the IETF ceases to, or plans to cease to, develop technical standards for the Internet, then upon and only upon the express written consent of the IESG, or the IESG’s successor as the leadership of the IETF, the IETF’s successor with respect to the development of technical standards for the Internet shall become the successor Beneficiary under this Corporation; provided that neither of the Settlors nor any affiliate of either Settlor shall become such successor organization or successor Beneficiary, and provided, further, that if either the IESG or its successor does not consent to the IETF’s successor becoming the Beneficiary hereunder, or if neither the IESG nor its successor are then existing, the successor Beneficiary shall be jointly designated by the Settlors.
> 
> This section is, as others have commented, inappropriate for corporate bylaws as corporations do not have beneficiaries or settlors and including this may therefore cause unintended consequences.  More importantly though, this is overriding the IETF’s ability to set its own policy for how its IP is used.  The IETF LLC therefore recommends that this section be removed in its entirety and that the use of the assets be governed by IETF’s BCPs, as described above.