One document matched: draft-ietf-ipr-trademarks-00.txt

Network Working Group                                        S. Bradner
Internet-Draft                                       Harvard University
                                                                 Editor
                                                           January 2005

               Indication of Trademarks in IETF Documents

                  <draft-ietf-ipr-trademarks-00.txt>

Status of this Memo

   By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any
   applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware
   have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes
   aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of RFC 3668.

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on July 27, 2005.

Abstract
   People writing IETF documents sometimes must use trademarked terms.
   This document clarifies how document authors can indicate that a term
   is trademarked.  This document updates RFC 3667 and 3668.

Copyright Notice
   Copyright (C) The Internet Society. (2005)

1. Introduction
   Section 3.6 of RFC 3667 [RFC3667] says that contributors "who claim
   trademark rights in terms used in their IETF contributions are
   requested to state specifically what conditions apply to implementers
   of the technology relative to the use of such trademarks."




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   Section 11 of RFC 3668 [RFC3668] says that "IETF and RFC Editor
   documents must not contain any mention of specific IPR."

   But neither RFC 3667 or RFC 3668 address the question of marking such
   terms in IETF contributions to indicate that trademark rights have
   been claimed, nor do they address the question of other text to
   indicate who is making the claim of trademark rights.

   The lack of direction in RFC 3667 and RFC 3668 on these questions led
   to considerable discussion on the IETF and IPR Working Group mailing
   lists.  This memo answers these questions.


2.  Marking terms to indicate a claim to trademark or service mark
   rights

   A contributor may indicate a registered trademark or service mark by
   appending the three characters (R) to the term or phrase.  A
   contributor may indicate that they claim, or that they acknowledge, a
   claim to an unregistered trademark on a specific term or phrase by
   appending the four characters (TM) to the term or phrase.  A
   contributor may indicate that they claim, or that they acknowledge, a
   claim to an unregistered service mark on a specific term or phrase by
   appending the four characters (SM) to the term or phrase. Such a
   notice is optional when you are using the mark in a manner that is
   not in connection with the sale or promotion of a product or service,
   for example in just referencing a technology in a RFC.

   The markings described in this document are not intended to say which
   jurisdiction the trademarks or service marks are filed in. The
   markings described here just assert that one such mark exists in some
   jurisdiction.

   Contributors should be careful not to use any of these designations
   improperly, as such would be considered a violation of IETF policies
   and could, in some cases, also be prohibited by applicable law.


3. No IPR disclosures in IETF Documents

   To conform to the requirements of RFC 3668, the contribution must not
   include a statement such as "Foo (TM) is a trademark of BarrCo." If a
   contributor wants to make such a statement he or she should follow
   Section 3.6 of RFC 3667 which says any "statements should be
   submitted in the same way as is done for other intellectual property
   claims. (See [RFC 3668] Section 6.)"

   Statements about who claims a particular trademark or service mark



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   are generally not needed but may be helpful if the contributor is
   claiming a generally unknown mark themselves.  If no statement has
   been filed with the IETF about a term or phrase that is marked in a
   contribution as a trademark or service mark it is reasonable to
   assume that references to the term or phrase in product text,
   documentation and advertising material is permitted but that using
   the term or phrase as the name of a product requires permission from
   the holder of the mark.


4. References

4.1. Normative References

   [RFC 3667] Bradner, S., Ed., "IETF Rights in Contributions", BCP 78,
      RFC 3667, February 2004.

   [RFC 3668] Bradner, S., Ed., "Intellectual Property Rights in IETF
      Technology", BCP 79, RFC 3668, February 2004.

5. Acknowledgements

   The editor would like to acknowledge the legal advice on this topic
   provided by Michael Bevilacqua and Jorge Contreras of Wilmer, Cutler,
   Pickering, Hale and Dorr.


12. Editor's Address

   Scott Bradner
   Harvard University
   29 Oxford St.
   Cambridge MA, 02138

   Phone: +1 617 495 3864
   EMail: sob@harvard.edu


13. Full copyright statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004).  This document is subject
   to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78 and
   except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights.

   This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
   OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
   ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,



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   INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE
   INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
   WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Intellectual Property

   The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
   Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to
   pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
   this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
   might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has
   made any independent effort to identify any such rights.  Information
   on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be
   found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
   assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
   attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
   such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
   specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
   http://www.ietf.org/ipr.  The IETF invites any interested party to
   bring to its attention any copyrights, patents or patent
   applications, or other proprietary rights that may cover technology
   that may be required to implement this standard.  Please address the
   information to the IETF at ietf-ipr@ietf.org.

Acknowledgement

   Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
   Internet Society.





















Bradner                                                         [Page 4]