Draft Charter 11/15/94 mw The Intellectual Property of the IETF (ipietf) Working Group is chartered to investigate the issues surrounding Intellectual Property (the other IP) as it relates to the use of patented and licensed technology in proposed protocols and standards. An explicit objective is to modify RFC1602 as necessary as it relates to intellectual property. The current policy of the IETF is to avoid all patented or licensed technology unless unavoidable or for a compelling reason and any such technology must be available under a non-restrictive license. While the latter requirement is good, the former may actually not be in the best interest of the IETF and Internet community. It may actually be wiser and safer for the IETF to prefer technology that is patented but also is freely licensed or licensed at low cost. The issues revolving around the specifics of protection of the IETF on future patent infringement claims and the defensive nature of this action will be investigated along with the issues of appropriate licensing fees and the requirement for the exchange of chattle. It is expected that most of the work of this group will be conducted via email.