[ Original found at https://trustee.ietf.org/docs/IETF-Trust-License-Policy.pdf on 2018-10-30 ]

IETF TRUST 
Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents 
Effective Date: March 25, 2015 

1. Background
=============

The IETF Trust was formed on December 15, 2005, for, among other
things, the purpose of acquiring, holding, maintaining and licensing
certain existing and future intellectual property used in connection
with the Internet standards process and its administration, for the
advancement of science and technology associated with the Internet and
related technology.  Accordingly, pursuant to RFC 5378, Contributors
grant the IETF Trust certain licenses with respect to their IETF
Contributions.  In RFC 5377, the IETF Community has provided the IETF
Trust with guidance regarding licenses that the IETF Trust should
grant to others with respect to such IETF Contributions and IETF
Documents.  These Legal Provisions describe the rights and licenses
that the IETF Trust grants to others with respect to such IETF
Contributions and IETF Documents; as well as certain restrictions,
limitations and notices relating to IETF Documents.  These Legal
Provisions also apply to other document streams that have requested
that the IETF Trust act as licensing administrator, as described in
Section 8 below.  Capitalized terms used in these Legal Provisions
that are not otherwise defined have the meanings set forth in RFC
5378.

2. Applicability of these Legal Provisions.
===========================================

a. These Legal Provisions are effective as of March 25, 2015 (the
   “Effective Date”).

b. The licenses granted by the IETF Trust pursuant to these Legal
   Provisions apply only with respect to (i) IETF Contributions
   (including Internet-Drafts) that are submitted to the IETF
   following the Effective Date, and (ii) IETF RFCs and other IETF
   Documents that are published after the Effective Date.

c. IETF Contributions made, and IETF Documents published, prior to the
   Effective Date (“Pre-Existing IETF Documents”) remain subject to
   the licensing provisions of the IETF copyright policy document in
   effect at the time of their contribution or publication, as
   applicable, including RFCs 1310, 1602, 2026, 3978 and 4748 and
   previous versions of these Legal Provisions.

d. In most cases, rights to Pre-Existing IETF Documents that are not
   expressly granted under these RFCs can only be obtained by
   requesting such rights directly from the document authors.  The
   IETF Trust and the Internet Society do not become involved in
   making such requests to document authors.

e. These Legal Provisions may be amended from time to time by the IETF
   Trust in a manner consistent with the guidance provided by the IETF
   community and its own operating procedures.  Any amendment to these
   Legal Provisions shall be posted for review at
   http://trustee.ietf.org/policyandprocedures.html and shall become
   effective on a date specified by the IETF Trust, but no earlier
   than thirty (30) days following its posting.  Such amendment shall
   apply with respect to all IETF Contributions made and IETF
   Documents published following the effective date of such amendment.
   All prior versions of these Legal Provisions shall continue to be
   posted at http://trustee.ietf.org/policyandprocedures.html for
   reference with respect to IETF Contributions and IETF Documents as
   to which they may apply.

3. Licenses to IETF Documents and IETF Contributions.
=====================================================

a. License For Use Within the IETF Standards Process.  The IETF Trust
   hereby grants to each participant in the IETF Standards Process, to
   the greatest extent that it is permitted to do so, a non-exclusive,
   royalty-free, worldwide right and license under all copyrights and
   rights of authors granted to the IETF Trust:
 
  i.  to copy, publish, display and distribute IETF Contributions and
      IETF Documents, in whole or in part, as part of the IETF
      Standards Process, and

  ii. to translate IETF Contributions and IETF Documents, in whole or
      part, into languages other than English as part of the IETF
      Standards Process, and

  iii. unless explicitly disallowed in the notices contained in an
       IETF Contribution or IETF Document (as specified in Section 6.c
       below), to modify or prepare derivative works of such IETF
       Contributions or IETF Documents, in whole or in part, as part
       of the IETF Standards Process.

b. IETF Standards Process.  The term IETF Standards Process has the
   meaning assigned to it in RFC 5378.  In addition, the IETF Trust
   interprets the IETF Standards Process to include the archiving of
   IETF Documents in perpetuity for reference in support of IETF
   activities and the implementation of IETF standards and
   specifications.

c. Licenses For Use Outside the IETF Standards Process.  In addition
   to the rights granted with respect to Code Components described in
   Section 4 below, the IETF Trust hereby grants to each person who
   wishes to exercise such rights, to the greatest extent that it is
   permitted to do so, a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide right
   and license under all copyrights and rights of authors:
  
  i.  to copy, publish, display and distribute IETF Contributions and
      IETF Documents in full and without modification,


  ii. to translate IETF Contributions and IETF Documents into
      languages other than English, and to copy, publish, display and
      distribute such translated IETF Contributions and IETF Documents
      in full and without modification,
 

  iii. to copy, publish, display and distribute unmodified portions of
       IETF Contributions and IETF Documents and translations thereof,
       provided that:


     (x) each such portion is clearly attributed to IETF and
         identifies the RFC or other IETF Document or IETF
         Contribution from which it is taken,

     (y) all IETF legends, legal notices and indications of authorship
         contained in the original IETF RFC must also be included
         where any substantial portion of the text of an IETF RFC, and
         in any event where more than one-fifth of such text, is
         reproduced in a single document or series of related
         documents.
 

d. Licenses that are not Granted.  The following licenses are not
   granted pursuant to these Legal Provisions:


  i.  any license to modify IETF Contributions or IETF Documents, or
      portions thereof (other than to make translations or to extract,
      use and modify Code Components as permitted under the licenses
      granted under Section 4 of these Legal Provisions) in any
      context outside the IETF Standards Process, or

  ii. any license to publish, display or distribute IETF Contributions
      or IETF Documents, or portions thereof, without the required
      legends and notices described in these Legal Provisions.

e. Requesting Additional Rights.  Anyone who wishes to request license
   rights from the IETF Trust in addition to those granted under these
   Legal Provisions may submit such request to trustees@ietf.org.
   Such request will be considered by the IETF Trust, which will make
   a decision regarding the request in its sole discretion and inform
   the requester of its disposition.  In addition, individual
   Contributors may be contacted regarding licenses to their IETF
   Contributions.  The IETF Trust does not limit the ability of IETF
   Contributors to license their Contributions, so long as those
   licenses do not affect the rights granted to the IETF Trust under
   RFC 5378.

4. License to Code Components.
==============================

a. Definition.  IETF Contributions and IETF Documents often include
   components intended to be directly processed by a computer (“Code
   Components”).  A list of common Code Components can be found at
   http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info/.

b. Identification.  Text in IETF Contributions and IETF Documents of
   the types identified in Section 4.a above shall constitute “Code
   Components”.  In addition, any text found between the markers <CODE
   BEGINS> and <CODE ENDS>, or otherwise clearly labeled as a Code
   Component, shall be considered a “Code Component”.

c. License.  In addition to the licenses granted under Section 3,
   unless one of the legends contained in Section 6.c.i or 6.c.ii is
   included in an IETF Document containing Code Components, such Code
   Components are also licensed to each person who wishes to receive
   such a license on the terms of the “Simplified BSD License", as
   described below.  If a licensee elects to apply the BSD License to
   a Code Component, then the additional licenses and restrictions set
   forth in Section 3 and elsewhere in these Legal Provisions shall
   not apply thereto.  Note that this license is specifically offered
   for IETF Documents and may not be available for Alternate Stream
   documents. See Section 8 for licensing information for the
   appropriate stream.
 
BSD License: 
 
  Copyright (c) <insert year> IETF Trust and the persons identified as
  authors of the code.  All rights reserved.

  Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
  modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
  are met:

   * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
     notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
 
   * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
     notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in
     the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
     distribution.
 
   * Neither the name of Internet Society, IETF or IETF Trust, nor the
     names of specific contributors, may be used to endorse or promote
     products derived from this software without specific prior
     written permission.

  THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
  “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
  LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
  FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
  COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
  INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING,
  BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
  LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER
  CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
  LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN
  ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
  POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

  The above BSD License is intended to be compatible with the
  Simplified BSD License template published at
  http://opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php .

d. Attribution.  Those who use Code Components under the license
   granted under Section 4.c above are requested to attribute each
   such Code Component to IETF and identify the RFC or other IETF
   Document or IETF Contribution from which it is taken.  Such
   attribution may be placed in the code itself (e.g., “This code was
   derived from IETF RFC [insert RFC number].  Please reproduce this
   note if possible.”), or any other reasonable location.

e. BSD License Text.  For purposes of compliance with the
   redistribution clauses of the Simplified BSD License set forth in
   Section 4.c above, it is permissible, when using Code Components
   extracted from IETF Contributions and IETF Documents, either (1) to
   reproduce the entire text of the Simplified BSD License set forth
   in Section 4.c above as part of such Code Component, or (2) to
   include in such Code Component the legend set forth in Section 6.d
   below.

5. License Limitations.
=======================

a. No Patent License.  The licenses granted under these Legal
   Provisions shall not be deemed to grant any right under any patent,
   patent application or similar intellectual property right.

b. Supersedure.  The terms of any license granted under these Legal
   Provisions may be superseded by a written agreement between the
   IETF Trust and the licensee that specifically references and
   supersedes the relevant provisions of these Legal Provisions,
   except that (i) the IETF Trust shall in no event be authorized to
   grant rights with respect to any Contribution in excess of those
   which it has been granted by the Contributor, and (ii) the rights
   granted shall not be less than those otherwise granted under these
   Legal Provisions.

c. Pre-5378 Material.  In some cases, IETF Contributions or IETF
   Documents may contain material from IETF Contributions or IETF
   Documents published or made publicly available before November 10,
   2008 as to which the persons controlling the copyright in such
   material have not granted rights to the IETF Trust under the terms
   of RFC 5378 (“Pre-5378 Material”).  If a Contributor includes the
   legend contained in Section 6.c.iii of these Legal Provisions on
   such IETF Contributions or IETF Documents containing Pre-5378
   Materials, the IETF Trust agrees that it shall not grant any third
   party the right to use such Pre-5378 Material outside the IETF
   Standards Process unless and until it has obtained sufficient
   rights to do so from the persons controlling the copyright in such
   Pre-5378 Material.  Where practical, Contributors are encouraged to
   identify which portions of such IETF Contributions and IETF
   Documents contain Pre-5378 Material, including the source (by RFC
   number or otherwise) of the Pre-5378 Material.
 
6. Text To Be Included in IETF Documents.
=========================================

The following text must be included in each IETF Document as specified
below.  The IESG shall specify the manner and location of such text
for Internet-Drafts.  The RFC Editor shall specify the manner and
location of such text for RFCs.  The copyright notice specified in 6.b
below shall be placed so as to give reasonable notice of the claim of
copyright.

a. Submission Compliance for Internet-Drafts.   In each Internet-Draft:

    This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
    provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

b. Copyright and License Notice.  In each Document (including RFCs and
   Internet- Drafts):

  i.  Copyright and License Notice. 

    Copyright (c) <insert year> IETF Trust and the persons identified
    as the document authors.  All rights reserved.

    This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust’s Legal
    Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
    (http://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 Simplified BSD License text as described in
    Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without
    warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License.

  ii.  Alternate Stream Documents Copyright and License Notice.  In
       all Alternate Stream Documents (including RFCs and
       Internet-Drafts):

    Copyright (c) <insert year> IETF Trust and the persons identified
    as the document authors.  All rights reserved.

    This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust’s Legal
    Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
    (http://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.

c. Derivative Works and Publication Limitations. If a Contributor
   chooses to limit the right to make modifications and derivative
   works of an IETF Contribution, then one of the notices in clause
   (i) or (ii) below must be included. Note that an IETF Contribution
   with such a notice cannot become a Standards Track document or, in
   most cases, a working group document.  If an IETF Contribution
   contains pre-5378 Material as to which the IETF Trust has not been
   granted, or may not have been granted, the necessary permissions to
   allow modification of such pre-5378 Material outside the IETF
   Standards Process, then the notice in clause (iii) may be included
   by the Contributor of such IETF Contribution to limit the right to
   make modifications to such pre-5378 Material outside the IETF
   Standards Process.

  i. If the Contributor does not wish to allow modifications, but does
     wish to allow publication as an RFC:

        This document may not be modified, and derivative works of it
        may not be created, except to format it for publication as an
        RFC or to translate it into languages other than English.

  ii. If the Contributor does not wish to allow modifications nor to
      allow publication as an RFC:

        This document may not be modified, and derivative works of it
        may not be created, and it may not be published except as an
        Internet-Draft.

  iii. If an IETF Contribution contains pre-5378 Material as to which
       the IETF Trust has not been granted, or may not have been
       granted, the necessary permissions to allow modification of
       such pre-5378 Material outside the IETF Standards Process:

        This document may contain material from IETF Documents or IETF
        Contributions published or made publicly available before
        November 10, 2008.  The person(s) controlling the copyright in
        some of this material may not have granted the IETF Trust the
        right to allow modifications of such material outside the IETF
        Standards Process.  Without obtaining an adequate license from
        the person(s) controlling the copyright in such materials,
        this document may not be modified outside the IETF Standards
        Process, and derivative works of it may not be created outside
        the IETF Standards Process, except to format it for
        publication as an RFC or to translate it into languages other
        than English.

d. BSD License Notification.  In lieu of the complete text of the
   Simplified BSD License set forth in Section 4.c, a person who
   elects to license a Code Component under the Simplified BSD License
   as described in Section 4.c may use the following notification in
   the program or other file that includes the Code Component:

    Copyright (c) <insert year> IETF Trust and the persons identified
    as authors of the code.  All rights reserved.

    Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
    modification, is permitted pursuant to, and subject to the license
    terms contained in, the Simplified BSD License set forth in
    Section 4.c of the IETF Trust’s Legal Provisions Relating to IETF
    Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info).

7. Terms Applicable to All IETF Documents.
==========================================

The following legal terms apply to all IETF Documents:

a. ALL DOCUMENTS AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN ARE PROVIDED ON
   AN “AS IS” BASIS AND THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE
   REPRESENTS OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY, THE
   IETF TRUST, THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE AND ANY APPLICABLE
   MANAGERS OF ALTERNATE STREAM DOCUMENTS, AS DEFINED IN SECTION 8
   BELOW, DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT
   NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION THEREIN
   WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
   MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

b. The IETF Trust takes no position regarding the validity or scope of
   any Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be
   claimed to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology
   described in any IETF Document or the extent to which any license
   under such rights might or might not be available; nor does it
   represent that it has made any independent effort to identify any
   such rights.

c. Copies of Intellectual Property disclosures made to the IETF
   Secretariat and any assurances of licenses to be made available, or
   the result of an attempt made to obtain a general license or
   permission for the use of such proprietary rights by implementers
   or users of this specification can be obtained from the IETF
   on-line IPR repository at http://www.ietf.org/ipr.

d. The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
   copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
   rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
   any standard or specification contained in an IETF Document. Please
   address the information to the IETF at ietf-ipr@ietf.org.

e. The definitive version of an IETF Document is that published by, or
   under the auspices of, the IETF. Versions of IETF Documents that
   are published by third parties, including those that are translated
   into other languages, should not be considered to be definitive
   versions of IETF Documents. The definitive version of these Legal
   Provisions is that published by, or under the auspices of, the
   IETF. Versions of these Legal Provisions that are published by
   third parties, including those that are translated into other
   languages, should not be considered to be definitive versions of
   these Legal Provisions.

f. For the avoidance of doubt, each Contributor licenses each
   Contribution that he or she makes to the IETF Trust pursuant to the
   provisions of RFC 5378. No language to the contrary, or terms,
   conditions or rights that differ from or are inconsistent with the
   rights and licenses granted under RFC 5378, shall have any effect
   and shall be null and void, whether published or posted by such
   Contributor, or included with or in such Contribution.

8. Application to non-IETF Stream Documents
===========================================
 
a. General.  These Legal Provisions have been developed by the IETF
   Trust for the benefit and use of the IETF community in accordance
   with the guidance provided in RFC 5377. As such, these Legal
   Provisions apply to all IETF Contributions and IETF Documents that
   are in the “IETF Document Stream” as defined in Section 5.1.1 of
   RFC 4844 (i.e., those that are contributed, developed, edited and
   published as part of the IETF Standards Process).  As indicated in
   Section 4 of RFC 5378, the IETF rules regarding copyrights (which
   are embodied in these Legal Provisions) do not by their terms cover
   documents or materials contributed or published outside of the IETF
   Document Stream, even if they are referred to as Internet-Drafts or
   RFCs and/or published by the RFC Editor.  The IAB Document Stream,
   the IRTF Document Stream and the Independent Submission Stream,
   each as defined in Section 5.1 of RFC 4844 are referred to
   collectively herein as “Alternate Streams”.

b. Adoption by Alternate Streams.  The legal rules that apply to
   documents in Alternate Streams are established by the managers of
   those Alternate Streams as defined in RFC 4844. (i.e., the Internet
   Architecture Board (IAB), Internet Research Steering Group (IRSG)
   and Independent Submission Editor).  These managers may elect,
   through their own internal processes, to cause these Legal
   Provisions to be applied to documents contributed to them for
   development, editing and publication in their respective Alternate
   Streams.  If an Alternate Stream manager elects to adopt these
   Legal Provisions and to utilize the IETF Trust as the licensing
   administrator for such Alternate Stream, the IETF Trust will update
   these Legal Provisions to reflect the specific manner in which it
   will so act, and shall do so consistently with the stated wishes of
   the Alternate Stream manager to the extent consistent with the IETF
   Trust’s legal obligations and the instructions of the IETF
   community embodied in RFC 5377 and elsewhere.

c. Alternate Stream License.   

  i.  Unless otherwise specified below, for each Alternate Stream for
      which the IETF Trust acts as licensing administrator, from the
      date on which these Legal Provisions are effective with respect
      to such Alternate Stream (as specified below) the IETF Trust
      shall accept licenses of copyrights in documents granted to the
      IETF Trust by contributors to Alternate Stream as though granted
      pursuant to RFC 5378, and shall grant licenses to others on the
      terms of these Legal Provisions.

  ii. Each occurrence of the term “IETF Contribution” and “IETF
      Document” in these Legal Provisions shall be read to mean a
      Contribution or document in such Alternate Stream, as the case
      may be.  The disclaimer in Section 7.a of these Legal Provisions
      shall apply to the manager of such Alternate Stream as defined
      in RFC 4844 as though such manager were expressly listed in
      Section 7.a.

  iii. The license grant in Section 3.a of these Legal Provisions with
       respect to Alternate Stream documents shall not be limited to
       the IETF Standards Process, and all references to the IETF
       Standards Process in Section 3.a shall be omitted with respect
       to licenses of Alternate Stream documents, and correspondingly
       Section 3.c hereof shall not apply with respect to Alternate
       Stream documents.

  iv. Alternate Stream contributions made, and Alternate Stream
      documents published, prior to the application of these Legal
      Provisions to such Alternate Stream remain subject to the
      licensing provisions in effect for such Alternate Stream at the
      time of their contribution or publication, as applicable.

d. Responsibility of Alternate Stream Contributors.  Sections 5.c and
   6.c.iii of these Legal Provisions shall not apply to Alternate
   Stream documents, thus contributors of Contribution to Alternate
   Streams must assure themselves that they comply with the
   representations and warranties required under RFC 5378, including
   under Section 5.6 of RFC 5378, with respect to the entirety of
   their Alternate Stream Contributions prior to making the
   contribution.

e. IAB Document Stream.  Pursuant to Section 11 of RFC 5378, the IAB
   requested, as of April 4, 2008, that the IETF Trust act as
   licensing administrator for the IAB Document Stream and that these
   Legal Provisions be applied to documents submitted and published in
   the IAB Document Stream following the Effective Date of RFC 5378.
   Section 4 of these Legal Provisions shall not apply to documents in
   the IAB Document Stream, and all references to Section 4 hereof
   shall be disregarded with respect to documents in the IAB Document
   Stream pursuant to RFC 5745 published on December 21, 2009.

f. Independent Submission Stream.  Pursuant to RFC 5744 published on
   December 17, 2009, the manager of the Independent Submission Stream
   has requested that the IETF Trust act as licensing administrator
   for the Independent Submission Stream and that these Legal
   Provisions be applied to documents submitted and published in the
   Independent Submission Stream following December 28, 2009.  Section
   4 of these Legal Provisions shall not apply to documents in the
   Independent Submission Stream, and all references to Section 4
   hereof shall be disregarded with respect to documents in the
   Independent Submission Stream.

g. IRTF Document Stream.  Pursuant to RFC 5743 published on December
   24, 2009, the manager of the IRTF Document Stream has requested
   that the IETF Trust act as licensing administrator for the IRTF
   Document Stream and that these Legal Provisions be applied to
   documents submitted and published in the IRTF Document Stream
   following December 28, 2009.  Section 4 of these Legal Provisions
   shall not apply to documents in the IRTF Document Stream, and all
   references to Section 4 hereof shall be disregarded with respect to
   documents in the IRTF Document Stream.

9.  Template Text
=================

a. Certain RFCs may contain text designated as “Template Text” by the
   inclusion of the following legend in the introduction to the RFC:

   “This RFC contains text intended for use as a template as
   designated below by the markers <BEGIN TEMPLATE TEXT> and <END
   TEMPLATE TEXT> or other clear designation.  Such Template Text is
   subject to the provisions of Section 9(b) of the Trust Legal
   Provisions.”

b. In addition to the other rights granted under the TLP with respect
   to each RFC, the Trust grants to all interested persons a
   non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual right and license
   under all copyrights and rights of authors to insert specific
   information in place of blanks or place-holders in the Template
   Text, and to reproduce, publish and distribute the Template Text
   combined with such insertions.
