[CWG-Stewardship] FW from Richard Hill on IANA trademark

[Grace Abuhamad]

Forwarding on behalf of Richard Hill.

On 7/30/15, 4:02 AM, "Richard Hill" <rhill at hill-a.ch> wrote:

>Dear Grace,
>
>Please forward this to the CWG-Stewardship mailing list.
>
>Thanks and best,
>Richard
>
>=================
>
>I have followed with some interest the various postings on the
>CWG-Stewardship mailing list regarding the issue of the IANA trademark.
>
>From my point of view, the issue is rather simple. The IANA trademark is
>used to identify services provided in connection with three sets of unique
>identifiers: protocol parameters, IP addresses, and top-level domain
>names. 
>
>The source for all those identifiers, and the entity that has published
>the
>highest level rules regarding their creation and assignment, is the IETF.
>This is not disputed regarding protocol parameters, nor, I hope, regarding
>IP addresses, even if the detailed rules for assignment of IP addresses
>are
>made by the RIRs.
>
>And I hope that it is not disputed for the legacy gTLDs and the ccTLDs,
>even
>if ICANN has made detailed rules for reassignments and for the new gTLDs.
>
>The IETF is not a legally incorporated entity, so it cannot register a
>trademark. But its legal parent, ISOC, could register the trademark and
>other intellectual property.
>
>Some years ago, ISOC decided to create an entity, the IETF Trust,
>specifically for "the advancement of educational and public interest by
>acquiring, holding, maintaining and licensing certain existing and future
>intellectual property and other property used in connection with the
>Internet standards process and its administration, for the advancement of
>the science and technology associated with the Internet and related
>technology."
>
>Since the IANA function is nothing more that the administration of certain
>aspects of Internet standards, and since the ultimate source of those
>standards is the IETF, it seems obvious to me that the IANA trademark (and
>indeed all intellectual property associated with the IANA function) should
>be held by the IETF Trust.
>
>Best,
>Richard
>
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