Network Working Group R. Sayre Internet-Draft Updates: 5378 (if approved) B. E. Carpenter Intended status: Best Current Practice Univ. of Auckland Expires: 24 January 2027 23 July 2026 Limiting Derivative Works Restrictions to IETF Documents draft-sayre-gendispatch-derivative-03 Abstract This document clarifies that only IETF Documents may 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 ipr-wg Working Group mailing list (mailto:ipr-wg@ietf.org), which is archived at https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/ipr-wg/. Subscribe at https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ipr-wg/. 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 24 January 2027. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2026 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. Sayre & Carpenter Expires 24 January 2027 [Page 1] Internet-Draft Limiting Derivative Works Restrictions t July 2026 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 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 This document uses the terminology defined in [RFC5378]. 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 could be construed as applying to all Contributions. Using this mechanism outside of specifications, for example, in electronic mail, makes it difficult for people to respond 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 IETF Documents as defined in [RFC5378]. This document formally restricts the use of this mechanism to IETF Documents, i.e., RFCs or Internet-Drafts that are used in the IETF Standards Process. Derivative works restrictions may not be applied Sayre & Carpenter Expires 24 January 2027 [Page 2] Internet-Draft Limiting Derivative Works Restrictions t July 2026 to other Contributions, such as public online IETF fora as defined in [RFC9945], appeals, minutes, or audio or video recordings of IETF meetings. All other rights Contributors provide to the IETF Trust/ICMP [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 [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, . [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 Sayre & Carpenter Expires 24 January 2027 [Page 3] Internet-Draft Limiting Derivative Works Restrictions t July 2026 PB 92019 Auckland 1142 New Zealand Email: brian.e.carpenter@gmail.com Sayre & Carpenter Expires 24 January 2027 [Page 4]