[ih] Some Questions over IPv4 Ownership

[Ernesto Rubi]

As a follow up - ::wearing lawyer hat::

Language in law is important, and nowhere is that more evident than in
contracts and contract clauses.

To give you an idea of the pervasive 'misunderstanding' that legal folk
currently have with regards to IP addresses and their 'property
interest'/status, here is an actual subpart from a contract Qwest signed
with salesforce.com which is *listed on Westlaw as a model contract for
telecommunications services*

I.8. Rights and Obligations of Qwest; Disclaimer of Warranties


(a) As may be set forth in the Addendum, Qwest will secure domain names
and assign IP address space (subject to reasonable availability) for the
benefit of Customer during the Term, and Qwest will route those addresses
on Qwest's network; it being understood and agreed that neither Customer
nor any of its “Users” (as defined in the AUP) shall have the right to
route these addresses. Customer understands and agrees that it shall have
no ownership interest in any IP address which Qwest obtains on Customer's
behalf and that Qwest shall retain ownership of all such IP addresses, and
upon termination of the Agreement, Customer's access to and utilization of
such IP addresses shall terminate.

"ownership" is not defined anywhere else in the contract.

Maybe we should put together some workshops.

=)

Ernesto Rubi
Network Engineer
FIU / AMPATH
Email:  ernesto at cs.fiu.edu