[arin-discuss] [ppml] Counsel statement on Legacy assignments?

[Dean Anderson]

For Legacies, There is a document, which is like a certificate, which
gives permission to use an IP block.  Permission to use property is the
definition of a license. A license is right to use property.  A license
is a property right without ownership.  Property can be intangible, like
numbers, where the numbers are significant for an activity.

A lease is a agreement that includes the right to profit from property,
without an ownership right in the property.  Legacies have the right to
profit from the use of IP Address Blocks.  A lease may be perpetual.  
Legacies also have the ability and exclusive right to transfer IP Blocks
to others. This was accomplished by a Transfer Request, a special DOD
form.  Transferability is a contract right.

IP Address Blocks contain both license and lease rights, so they are a
hybrid of license and lease. The lease contract terms are unwritten, but
understood and defined through practice and long performance.

BTW, there is a reason the RSA includes a provision where both parties
agree that there are no property rights. This provision does not change
the fundamental nature of IP Blocks, nor does it apply, in particular,
to Legacy assignments. This provision just means that issues depending
on property rights cannot be raised by mutual agreement. If you haven't
agreed to this provision (as Legacies haven't) it doesn't apply.

But, indeed, certain kinds of contracts can be binding without
consideration, for example, promissory estoppel.  I wish had the
complete Restatement of Contracts, handy, rather than a study guide.  
No consideration is needed for a lease, and no consideration is
necessary for a license.  The GPL is a good example of a license with no
consideration.


		--Dean



On Sat, 13 Oct 2007, Ralph Doncaster wrote:

> On Thu, 11 Oct 2007, Dean Anderson wrote:
> 
> > Legacy's have 20+ years of performance to establish their claims. Even
> > if there were no written documents, that's proof enough to establish the
> > claim; If there are no documents, and if the documents are actually
> > vague and unspecific, then past performance defines the undefined terms.
> 
> My understanding of contract law is that it requires an offer, acceptance,
> and consideration.  It seems legacy users accepted an offer of an
> assignment of IP space, but for those who got it for free I don't see
> evidence of consideration.
> 
> For legacy's that got their assignment for free, what would their claim be
> based on if not contract law?
> 

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