Indication of Trademarks in IETF Documents

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

Scott Bradner

sob@harvard.edu

Problem

• RFC 3667 says"IETF and RFC Editor documents must not

contain any mention of specific IPR.”

• sometimes a trademark (or service mark) owner wants to indicate in their own ID that a term is a trademark (or service mark)

Proposal

• let an ID (RFC) author indicate marks with: registered trade or service mark: (R)

unregistered trademark: (TM)

unregistered service mark: (SM)

• optional -- NOT required

• do not include “foo is a X-mark of bar” in IDcan file a disclosure with the IETF if wanted

Reasons to Allow

• some authors do want to make it clear they claim a particular markcan be useful if mark generally unknown

• reason no “foo is a X-mark of bar”see RFC 3668 Section 11

to not mislead reader into thinking IETF takes a position on claim

Reasons Not to Allow

• send mixed message - indicate mark but no actual useful claim

• indication not legally required (unless in sales-related document)

• questionable legal status of ASCII representations