General Area Dispatch R. Sayre Internet-Draft Updates: 5378 (if approved) B. E. Carpenter Intended status: Best Current Practice Univ. of Auckland Expires: 18 November 2026 17 May 2026 Derivative Works draft-sayre-gendispatch-derivative-01 Abstract This document clarifies that IETF correspondence must not contain legal limitations on derivative works. About This Document This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC. Status information for this document may be found at https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-sayre-gendispatch-derivative/. Discussion of this document takes place on the WG General Area Dispatch mailing list (mailto:gendispatch@ietf.org), which is archived at https://datatracker.ietf.org/group/gendispatch/ documents/. Subscribe at https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ gendispatch/. Status of This Memo This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." This Internet-Draft will expire on 18 November 2026. Sayre & Carpenter Expires 18 November 2026 [Page 1] Internet-Draft Derivative Works May 2026 Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2026 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 (https://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 Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License. Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2. Conventions and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3. Derivative Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1. Introduction This document updates Rights Contributors Provide to the IETF Trust [RFC5378] in order to clarify and limit which contributions may include a restriction on derivative rights. 2. Conventions and Definitions The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here. 3. Derivative Works There is an expansive definition of "Contribution" in [RFC5378]. There is also a mechanism formally defined in Section 5.3 of that RFC that allows a Contributor to limit the right to produce derivative works. As written, this optional mechanism applies to all Contributions. Using this mechanism outside of specifications, for example, in electronic mail, makes it difficult for people to respond Sayre & Carpenter Expires 18 November 2026 [Page 2] Internet-Draft Derivative Works May 2026 and inhibits collaboration. This behavior impedes the very idea of collaborating about the Internet over the Internet. The IESG has stated [IESG-DERIV] that derivative works limitations should only be applied to technical specifications. This document narrows the use of this mechanism to technical specifications, such as Internet-Drafts or other complete specifications. It no longer applies to correspondence, such as public online IETF fora as defined in [RFC9945], appeals, minutes, or audio or video recordings of IETF meetings. Such IETF correspondence MUST NOT include restrictions on derivative works. This restriction covers text that is intentionally inserted and also includes automatically inserted terms inserted by corporate email software. Both variations are disruptive. It is always possible to publish an Internet-Draft with a restrictive derivative works clause. When introducing a document with such a clause, care must be taken to note the restriction. This consideration applies to email and IETF meeting presentations. All other rights Contributors provide to the IETF Trust [RFC5378] remain in place. 4. Security Considerations This document has no direct impact on Internet security. 5. IANA Considerations This document has no IANA actions. 6. References 6.1. Normative References [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997, . [RFC5378] Bradner, S., Ed. and J. Contreras, Ed., "Rights Contributors Provide to the IETF Trust", BCP 78, RFC 5378, DOI 10.17487/RFC5378, November 2008, . Sayre & Carpenter Expires 18 November 2026 [Page 3] Internet-Draft Derivative Works May 2026 [RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174, May 2017, . [RFC9945] Eggert, L., Ed. and E. Lear, Ed., "IETF Community Moderation", BCP 245, RFC 9945, DOI 10.17487/RFC9945, February 2026, . 6.2. Informative References [IESG-DERIV] IESG, "IESG Statement on Clarifying Derivative Works Rights", October 2025, . Authors' Addresses Robert Sayre San Francisco, CA United States of America Email: sayrer@gmail.com Brian E. Carpenter The University of Auckland School of Computer Science The University of Auckland PB 92019 Auckland 1142 New Zealand Email: brian.e.carpenter@gmail.com Sayre & Carpenter Expires 18 November 2026 [Page 4]