[arin-ppml] Draft Policy ARIN-2019-18: LIR/ISP Re-Assignment to Non-Connected Networks

[John Curran]

On 10 Oct 2019, at 1:07 PM, Owen DeLong <owen at delong.com<mailto:owen at delong.com>> wrote:

On Sep 30, 2019, at 11:02 , Mike Burns <mike at iptrading.com<mailto:mike at iptrading.com>> wrote:

Hi Fernando,

You said “RIR is and has always been the one who drives the resources to be efficientlly assigned by analysing justifications not private transfer companies. If an organization is not using resouces efficiently it either may change its resource assignment strategy otherwise it doesn't justify for those addresses anymore and should return them back to the RIR.”

There is no policy in ARIN to return un-needed space.  IPv4 resource holders own something of value, which is what economists call an “alienable asset”.  It is possible for such resource holders to return such space to ARIN, but you don’t have to be an economist to understand why they don’t and haven’t for the most part.

Mike,

I refer you to ARIN RSA Version 12.0 Section 7:

7. NO PROPERTY RIGHTS

Holder acknowledges and agrees that: (a) the Included Number Resources are not property (real, personal, or intellectual) of Holder; (b) Holder does not and will not have or acquire any property rights in or to Included Number Resources by virtue of this Agreement; (c) Holder will not attempt, directly or indirectly, to obtain or assert any patent, trademark, service mark or copyright in any number resources in the United States or any other country; and (d) Holder will transfer or receive Included Number Resources in accordance with the Policies.

Owen -

My understanding is that while rights to IP address blocks are not a recognized type of intangible or intellectual property right, that doesn’t preclude them being considered ‘assets’ of a party, as assets may include property rights or _contractual rights_.    Note that property rights are rights over things enforceable against all other persons, whereas contractual rights are rights enforceable against particular persons; i.e. the other parties of the agreement.

ARIN customers receive contractual right to be uniquely associated with their particular address blocks in the registry, and not have that association change except in accordance with the policies.  These rights are provided by (and enforceable) per the terms of the registration services agreement.  ARIN also will recognize and formalize the rights that legacy address holders have to specific blocks maintained in the ARIN registry by entering into a registration services agreement with them, if they so desire.

Such contractual rights, while not property rights, are indeed assets.

Of course, the above only represents my offhand view of the matter, and those seeking legal advice would best be served by obtaining such from counsel with deep familiarity of the legal aspects of the IP number registry system.

Thanks!
/John

John Curran
President and CEO
American Registry for Internet Numbers




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