[cooperation-wg] IANA IPR agreements - call for public comments

Dear Colleagues,

A call for public comment on IANA Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
agreements has been posted.

The announcement is available at:
https://www.ianacg.org/call-for-public-comment-on-iana-ipr-agreements/

Comments are due by the deadline of 12 September 12 2016 at 23:59 UTC.

Background

The Proposal to Transition the Stewardship of the Internet Assigned
Numbers Authority (IANA) Functions from the U.S. Commerce Department’s
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to the
Global Multistakeholder Community includes a requirement for certain IPR
associated with IANA to be transferred from ICANN to an entity
independent of the IANA functions operator. The IPR consists of
trademarks and domain names.

After discussion within the operational communities and the IETF Trust,
the IETF Trust indicated that it would be willing to hold the IANA IPR.
The IETF Trust is a Virginia common law trust created in 2005. Among
other things, the IETF Trust was created for the purpose of acquiring,
holding, maintaining and licensing certain intellectual property for the
advancement of the science and technology associated with the Internet
and related technology. The IETF Trust agreed to hold the IANA IPR in
the service of the affected Internet operational communities.

Representatives from the names community, the numbers community, the
protocol parameters community, the IETF Trust, and ICANN have drafted a
set of agreements to effectuate the transfer of the IANA IPR from ICANN
to the IETF Trust and to govern the relationships amongst the parties
with respect to the IPR after the transfer. These agreements are:

- IANA IPR Assignment Agreement. This agreement transfers the IPR from
ICANN to the IETF Trust.

- IANA IPR License Agreement. This agreement allows for the IANA
functions operator to use the IPR. The document available for public
comment is a basic form that will be used to generate three license
agreements, one each for the names, numbers, and protocol parameters
IANA services. Items highlighted in yellow will vary by agreement and
will be completed once the License Agreement is split into three. In
each case the licensee is ICANN, with the ability established for ICANN
to sublicense to PTI.

- IANA IPR Community Agreement. This agreement explains the rights and
obligations of the IETF Trust and each operational community as regards
the IPR.

The IETF Trust, the operational communities, and ICANN hereby solicit
feedback as to whether the draft agreements address the needs of the
affected communities.


Athina Fragkouli
Head of Legal
RIPE NCC