We should encourage 'non-open source' (i.e. commercial software developers) to participate - participation does not make that code public or gives the IETF any rights. This should be about testing implementations (regardless of source status) and making sure that they interoperate and working out issues with drafts and RFC; not about transferring any ownership or other rights. There are some past well know events of a similar nature - such as Sun's Connectathons. Perhaps some of that legal framework exists somewhere? Sure, for discussions, presentations, and demos, the IETF rules can apply (as they would in any WG sessions or similar). - Bernie -----Original Message----- From: hackathon [mailto:hackathon-bounces@xxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jari Arkko Sent: Friday, September 18, 2015 1:14 PM To: Miaofuyou (Miao Fuyou) <fuyou.miao@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: ietf@xxxxxxxx; hackathon@xxxxxxxx Subject: Re: [hackathon] What is the IPR policy for Hackathon? RE: [94all] IETF 94 - Hackathon Information The question of rights is important for the Hackathon. I have a personal perspective on this, largely from a pragmatic viewpoint. My primary goal is to make it possible for people to hack the things they want to hack. This means that they should be able to work on Linux kernel and whatever else, without causing issues in their ability to commit code to the relevant open source projects. And change existing code. And work together with others inside and outside the IETF Hackathon. To me this says: respect the rules of the relevant open source project when it comes to code. But code is not everything in the Hackathon. You also have discussions, presentations, and demos. I think it is a reasonable assumption that the usual IETF copyright and IPR rules apply there. For instance, that IETF gets rights to use the slides in proceedings, or that if you convince your IETF colleagues to work on some cool extension, you should let the IETF and those colleagues know about the IPR you know of... Is this an approach that people feel comfortable with? Note: The IAOC and IETF legal team are also working on this topic and may be saying something as well. This e-mail isn't a legal opinion; I just want to express my view on what kind of a setup works for the participants. And that I think needs to be the starting point. Jari