Network Working Group                               The Internet Society
Request for Comments: 2339                              Sun Microsystems
Category: Informational                                         May 1998


               An Agreement Between the Internet Society,
                  the IETF, and Sun Microsystems, Inc.
                   in the matter of NFS V.4 Protocols

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
   memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1998).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This Request for Comments records an agreement between Sun
   Microsystems, Inc. and the Internet Society to permit the flow of
   Sun's Network File System specifications into the Internet Standards
   process conducted by the Internet Engineering Task Force.

Note:

   This RFC is NOT a standard.  It is an official public record of an
   agreement between Sun Microsystems and the Internet Society.  The
   referenced RFCs 1094 dated March 1989 ("NFS: Network File System
   Protocol Specification") and 1813 dated June 1995 ("NFS Version 3
   Protocol Specification") are not attached to the document below, but
   are incorporated by reference.

                  AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE INTERNET SOCIETY,
                   THE IETF, AND SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC.
                    IN THE MATTER OF NFS V.4 PROTOCOLS


   This Agreement is made this 3rd day of March, 1998 by and between Sun
   Microsystems, Inc. ("Donor") and the Internet Society.  In
   consideration of the mutual covenants and conditions set forth below,
   the parties hereto agree as follows:

   1. License Grant.  For good and valuable consideration, receipt and
   sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, and solely for the
   purpose specified in Paragraph 2 below, Donor hereby grants to the
   Internet Society ("Licensees" which, for the purposes of this
   Agreement, shall include the Internet Engineering Task Force
   ("IETF"), the IETF Secretariat, and their respective members,
   officers, employees, contractors and participating individuals) a
   cost-free, perpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide right and license
   under any copyrights owned or otherwise licensable by Donor, under
   any Sun patent rights that are essential to practice the
   Specification, and any other Sun intellectual property rights to use,
   reproduce, distribute, perform, display and prepare derivative works
   of the Specification, and to authorize others to do so.  For the
   purposes of this Agreement, "Specification" means the technical
   specification described more fully in Exhibit A, which Donor will
   make available as the initial point for development of the
   specification for NFS Version 4 as described hereunder, together with
   any technical specifications based thereon developed by Licensees.

   2. Statement of Purpose.  The licenses granted in Section 1 are
   granted for the sole purpose of seeking to make the Specification an
   Internet standard.

   3. Evolution of the Specification.  Donor further grants to Licensees
   a worldwide right and license to further evolve, develop and modify
   the Specification for the purpose of making the Specification an
   Internet Standard through the Internet Standardization Process (as
   specified in RFC 2026); Donor may not grant a license involving the
   Specification to any other party, including any standards group, that
   would authorize such party to evolve, develop, modify or promote the
   Specification as a standard.  In particular, Donor acknowledges that
   if it performs any evolution, development or modification of the
   Specification outside of the Internet Standardization Process, that
   this should be clearly indicated as being a non-standard development,
   and that no reference to the Internet Standards Process is allowed
   for any such Specification developed outside of the Internet
   Standards Process.

   4. Non-Confidentiality.  Donor hereby acknowledges that Licensees
   assume no obligation to maintain any confidentiality with respect to
   the Specification licensed hereunder.  Licensees acknowledge that any
   rights not expressly granted herein are reserved by Donor.  Donor
   represents that, to the best of its knowledge, there are no
   infringement claims against the Specification.

   5. Future License.  Donor hereby acknowledges that Licensees have no
   duty to publish or otherwise use or disseminate the Specification,
   including, in particular, an obligation to raise the Specification to
   the Internet standards-track.  Provided that the Specification is
   elevated to "Proposed Standard" level within 24 months of the
   execution of this Agreement, Donor hereby agrees to license the
   Specification to others at no charge and otherwise under
   substantially similar terms as those granted to Licensee herein (with
   the exception that such use of the Specification by such Licensees
   shall be for purposes of implementing and complying with the Standard
   rather than for making the Specification an Internet Standard), so
   long as such licensees of the Specification implement and comply with
   the Internet standard.  In the event the Specification is not
   elevated to "Proposed Standard" level within 24 months of the
   execution of this Agreement, then the license granted in Section 3 of
   this agreement shall terminate.

   6. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY.   THE SPECIFICATION IS PROVIDED TO
   LICENSEES "AS IS", AND ALL REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
   IMPLIED, INCLUDING FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  MERCHANTABILITY
   AND NONINFRINGEMENT ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED.

   7. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.  IN NO EVENT WILL DONOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY
   LOST REVENUE, PROFITS OR DATA, OR FOR DIRECT, SPECIAL, INDIRECT,
   CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, HOWEVER CAUSED AND
   REGARDLESS OF THEORY OF LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY
   TO USE THE SPECIFICATION, EVEN IF DONOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
   POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

   8. Acknowledgment.  Donor agrees to permit Licensees to use Donor's
   name and address to indicate the original source of the
   Specification.

   9. Miscellaneous.  This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement
   between the parties concerning its subject matter, and supersedes all
   prior written or oral agreements and discussions. All additions or
   modifications to this agreement must be made in writing and must be
   signed by an authorized representative of each party.  If any term or
   condition of this Agreement is declared void or unenforceable as
   provided herein or by a court of competent jurisdiction, the
   remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect. The

   parties agree to comply strictly with all applicable export control
   laws and regulations.  Where no U.S. Federal law governs, this
   agreement will be governed by the law of the State of California
   without reference to its conflict of laws provision.

   IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this Agreement to
   be executed by their duly authorized representatives.

   Signature /S/ Rich Green                       Date 3 March 1998
   Name          Rich Green
   Title         VP Solaris
                 SunSoft, Inc.

   Signature /S/ Donald M. Heath                  Date 6 March 1998
   Name          Donald M. Heath
   Title         President and CEO of the Internet Society

   Exhibit A The specifications embodied in RFCs 1094 and 1813, minus
   the portions of RFCs 1094 and 1813 that assume that NFS Version 2 and
   Version 3 operate over XDR and ONC RPC.*  The control of ONC RPC
   program number 100003 (NFS) for the purpose of generating Version
   numbers 4 and onward.

   *Note:  ISOC already has a license to use XDR and ONC RPC (see IETF
   RFC 1790), and thus may determine whether or not to create an NFS
   Version 4 that uses XDR and/or ONC RPC.

Security Considerations

   Since this document records an agreement rather than describes a
   technology security is not directly effected but, that said, one of
   the aims of an IETF NFS working group should be to ensure that a
   standards track NFS protocol has adequate security.

Editor's Address

   Scott Bradner
   Harvard University
   1350 Mass Ave. Rm 876
   Cambridge, MA 02138

   Phone: +1 617 495 3864
   EMail: sob@harvard.edu

Full Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1998).  All Rights Reserved.

   This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
   others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
   or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
   and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
   kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
   included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
   document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
   the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
   Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
   developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
   copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
   followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
   English.

   The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
   revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.

   This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
   TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
   BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
   HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
   MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.