| IETF Community, The IETF Trust Trustees would like feedback from the community on several issues: - We have received requests that we cannot accommodate and have consulted legal counsel to review our options - The trust agreement does not allow the trustees to effectively manage some trust assets The Trust was created in December 2005 by the Internet Society and the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) for the purpose of "the advancement of education and public interest by acquiring, holding, maintaining and licensing certain existing and future intellectual property and other property used in connection with the Internet standards process and its administration, for the advancement of the science and technology associated with the Internet and related technology." <http://trustee.ietf.org/docs/IETF-Trust-Agreement-Executed-12-15-05.pdf> Issue 1 We have recently been asked permission to republish the TAO with a creative commons license, but according to counsel, the current trust agreement does not give the trustees the rights to do this. - Without specific language being added to the trust agreement, we cannot grant these types of requests. - The current open request for a creative commons license from 6/18/2013 cannot be completed. Issue 2 We cannot currently accept physical assets like hardware donations into the trust. Once accepted into the trust, we would be unable to dispose of these items in the future if they are identified as no longer being needed. - This removes flexibility in managing assets in the trust, and we currently use alternative methods of accepting donations outside of the trust. Issue 3 Once a domain name or trademark is registered by the trust, it cannot be abandoned even if it is no longer needed. - We must maintain these in perpetuity based on legal counsel review of the current language You can also find the latest trust report that covers these items and was presented at the IETF 87 plenary here: http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/87/slides/slides-87-iesg-opsplenary-4 Thank you and we look forward to getting your feedback. Chris Griffiths Chair, IETF Trust |
Attachment:
signature.asc
Description: Message signed with OpenPGP using GPGMail