Network Working Group G. McAnally Request for Comments: 1988 D. Gilbert Category: Informational J. Flick Hewlett Packard Company August 1996 Conditional Grant of Rights to Specific Hewlett-Packard Patents In Conjunction With the Internet Engineering Task Force's Internet-Standard Network Management Framework Status of This Memo This memo provides information for the Internet community. This memo does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Note: This document is NOT a standard. It is an announcement to interested parties of a conditional grant by the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) of certain rights to use autotopology network management technology covered by specific HP patents in conjunction with the Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF's) Internet-standard network management framework. Purpose This grant is made to help facilitate inclusion of certain patented search address technology covering network device mapping in IETF standards-track Management Information Base (MIB) modules. HP is offering this search address technology to the IETF as a technique for mapping network devices. It should be noted that the confirmatory license mentioned is optional, since the grant of rights is automatic. A Grant of Rights to Hewlett-Packard US Patents 5,293,635 and 5,421,024 HP hereby covenants that it will not assert any claims in US Patents 5,293,635, 5,421,024, any continuations, divisions, or continuations-in-part of either, or any non-US counterparts of any of the foregoing against any party that makes, uses, sells, imports, or offers for sale, an implementation of an IETF standards-track MIB module that includes HP's contributed search address technology, or any derivative of that contribution, provided that the MIB module is employed to implement the Internet-standard network management framework. Such grant of rights is limited in that it does not include a right to incorporate such HP search address technology into McAnally, Gilbert & Flick Informational [Page 1] RFC 1988 Search Address Patent Use August 1996 proprietary MIB modules. This grant of rights will permanently terminate with respect to any party (and to any subsidiary of a party) that asserts a patent it owns or controls, either directly or indirectly, against HP or any of its subsidiaries for implementation of, or operation of any system utilizing, search address technology. The termination of rights will occur as of the date the patent is asserted against HP. A written confirmation of this grant, and/or a license under any other HP patent under HP's then-current terms, conditions, and royalty rates, can be obtained by sending a request to: Patent Counsel Hewlett-Packard Company 3000 Hanover Street Palo Alto, CA 94304 USA Security Considerations Security issues are not discussed in this memo. Authors' Addresses Gary McAnally Hewlett-Packard Company 8000 Foothills Blvd. Roseville, CA 95747 USA Douglas Gilbert Hewlett-Packard Company 3000 Hanover Street Palo Alto, CA 94304 USA John Flick Hewlett-Packard Company 8000 Foothills Blvd. M.S. 5556 Roseville, CA 95747-5556 USA Phone: (916) 785-4018 EMail: johnf@hprnd.rose.hp.com McAnally, Gilbert & Flick Informational [Page 2]