can we try to keep life simple? it is prudent to check what (new) ipr exists for a draft at the point where the iesg is gonna start the sausage machine to get it to rfc. if the iesg did not do this, we would rightly worry that we were open to a submarine job. this has happened, which is why this formality is in place. if some subset of the authors prefer to play cute, my alarms go off. stuff the draft until they can give a simple direct answer. randy