Re: Copyright status of early RFCs

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Jeroen Massar wrote:
On Mon, 2006-04-10 at 07:28 -0700, Harald Alvestrand wrote:
bmanning@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
 not being the RFC editor, the IAB (or member thereof), or even the
 (as yet undefinable) IETF, I am not sure I am qualified to render
 a value judgement here.  That said, I am in posession of two bound
 volumes of the collected RFC series as of the date of publication of
 said volumes (modulo delays from the time the collection(s) were assembled
 and the time they were published).  One is circa 1995 and the other is
 circa 1997  ...  and I know of at least one CD containing the RFC archives
 that has been sold.
The rules by which the IAB/IESG manage the IETF process have changed dramatically in the past four years... so what was once possible/encouraged seems now to be treated as suspect or illegal beahviour. Who knows if the ISOC/IAB/IESG folks are attempting to claim copywrite on old RFCs (which
 used to claim "Distribution Unlimited")...
I think it's much more a question of "we won't pay your lawyer's bills if someone sues you over this" than a desire to exert any form of control.

I think all the IAB, IESG, IETF trust etcetera WISH for all RFCs to be freely copyable in their entirety.

The 'entirety' is the key word here, as the cd's and prints Bill mention
contain the unmodified complete RFC's. That is, the versions I read
where contained complete unmodified RFC's and I expect them to be that
way too.

I have to note that I have a good number of books, specifically IPv6
ones, which contain excerpts of varous RFC's, even the newest ones.
In the IPR WG meeting in Dallas, the WG seemed to indicate that it *wants* the right to use unmodified quotes/excerpts (any length) to be available to all too - I still have to make the call on the mailing list before declaring that the IPR WG has consensus on this point.

But that finding of consensus is relatively new - and it still doesn't change the *legal* status of preexisting RFCs.....


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