Network Working Group R. Sayre Internet-Draft Updates: 5378 (if approved) B. E. Carpenter Intended status: Best Current Practice Univ. of Auckland Expires: 6 February 2027 5 August 2026 Clarification of Derivative Works Restrictions draft-sayre-gendispatch-derivative-05 Abstract This document clarifies that only IETF Documents may contain legal limitations on derivative works. About This Document This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC. Status information for this document may be found at https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-sayre-gendispatch-derivative/. Discussion of this document takes place on the ipr-wg Working Group mailing list (mailto:ipr-wg@ietf.org), which is archived at https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/ipr-wg/. Subscribe at https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ipr-wg/. Status of This Memo This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." This Internet-Draft will expire on 6 February 2027. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2026 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. Sayre & Carpenter Expires 6 February 2027 [Page 1] Internet-Draft Clarification of Derivative Works Restri August 2026 This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/ license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License. Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2. Conventions and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3. Derivative Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Appendix A. Change Log [RFC Editor, please remove] . . . . . . . 4 A.1. Draft-00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 A.2. Draft-01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 A.3. Draft-02 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 A.4. Draft-03 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 A.5. Draft-04 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 A.6. Draft-05 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1. Introduction This document updates Rights Contributors Provide to the IETF Trust [RFC5378] in order to clarify and limit which contributions may include a restriction on derivative rights. 2. Conventions and Definitions This document uses the terminology defined in [RFC5378]. 3. Derivative Works Section 1 of [RFC5378] defines "Contribution", a "Contributor" and "IETF Documents". Sections 5.3 and 6 of RFC 5378 describe an optional mechanism for a Contributor to limit derivative works rights with a notice in the Contribution. Sayre & Carpenter Expires 6 February 2027 [Page 2] Internet-Draft Clarification of Derivative Works Restri August 2026 This optional mechanism has sometimes been misconstrued as applying to all Contributions. Using this mechanism outside of specifications, for example, in electronic mail, makes it difficult for people to respond and inhibits collaboration. This behavior impedes the very idea of collaborating about the Internet over the Internet. The IESG has previously issued a statement on this topic [IESG-DERIV]. This document clarifies with normative effect that RFC 5378 permits the use of this mechanism only for the text of IETF Documents, i.e., RFCs or Internet-Drafts that are used in the IETF Standards Process. *Question for legal review:* Which of the following two alternative sentences would be more effective and less problematic for participants? *Version 1:* Derivative works restrictions may not be applied to other Contributions, such as but not limited to public online IETF fora as defined in [RFC9945], appeals, minutes, or audio or video recordings of IETF meetings. *Version 2:* Derivative works restrictions attached to other Contributions, such as but not limited to public online IETF fora as defined in [RFC9945], appeals, minutes, or audio or video recordings of IETF meetings, have no validity and should be ignored by all IETF participants. All other rights Contributors provide to the IETF Trust/ICMP [RFC5378] remain in place. 4. Security Considerations This document has no direct impact on Internet security. 5. IANA Considerations This document has no IANA actions. 6. References 6.1. Normative References [RFC5378] Bradner, S., Ed. and J. Contreras, Ed., "Rights Contributors Provide to the IETF Trust", BCP 78, RFC 5378, DOI 10.17487/RFC5378, November 2008, . Sayre & Carpenter Expires 6 February 2027 [Page 3] Internet-Draft Clarification of Derivative Works Restri August 2026 [RFC9945] Eggert, L., Ed. and E. Lear, Ed., "IETF Community Moderation", BCP 245, RFC 9945, DOI 10.17487/RFC9945, February 2026, . 6.2. Informative References [IESG-DERIV] IESG, "IESG Statement on Clarifying Derivative Works Rights", October 2025, . Appendix A. Change Log [RFC Editor, please remove] A.1. Draft-00 * Original version A.2. Draft-01 * Added author, expanded argument A.3. Draft-02 * Removed pointless sentence A.4. Draft-03 * Significant rewording A.5. Draft-04 * Update after IETF 126 discussion A.6. Draft-05 * Sharpened definitions taken from RFC5378 * Avoided paraphrasing IESG statement * Added explicit "ban vs ignore" choice * Added explicit legal query Sayre & Carpenter Expires 6 February 2027 [Page 4] Internet-Draft Clarification of Derivative Works Restri August 2026 Acknowledgements Helpful comments were made by Jay Daley, Roman Danyliw, Stephen Farrell, Joel Halpern, Christian Huitema, John Klensin, Eliot Lear, John Levine, Rich Salz, Paul Wouters, ... Authors' Addresses Robert Sayre San Francisco, CA United States of America Email: sayrer@gmail.com Brian E. Carpenter The University of Auckland School of Computer Science The University of Auckland PB 92019 Auckland 1142 New Zealand Email: brian.e.carpenter@gmail.com Sayre & Carpenter Expires 6 February 2027 [Page 5]