jqj@RT-JQJ.STANFORD.EDU (03/02/90)
I notice that, according to Joyce Reynolds' message of 22 Feb 90, RFC 1143 is "Copyright 1990, Daniel J. Bernstein. However, distribution of this memo in original form is unlimited." Is there, or should there be, a policy on acceptance of copyrighted materials for RFCs? In particular, since one of the arguments given for text-format RFCs was ability to extract quotations easily and store the material for online search and retrieval, should any materials be accepted as RFCs that do not permit this use? I haven't been following copyright law in the last couple of years, so perhaps "fair use" doctrine covers all reasonable uses of RFCs; could someone who knows the recent case law comment briefly? I suspect not, and that in fact we should require an explicit disclaimer of rights on future RFCs.