Most types of IETF documents are publically available from the IETF web site. Including RFCs, Internet Drafts, mailing list archives, intellectual property rights disclosures, working group activity, and Meeting Proceedings.
If obtaining IETF documents from the public sources is not sufficient then parties engaged in litigation relating to technologies that use or incorporate IETF standards may wish to obtain information directly from the IETF, in the form of documents, responses to questions or other tangible items. This is likely to occur when the litigant believes that some activity that occurred within the IETF process [RFC2026], or some intellectual property relating to an IETF standard [RFC3978] [RFC4748] [RFC3979], is directly related to the case in question. The term "documents" is often defined broadly by subpoenas and can include both electronic and hard copy sources, such as working group session attendance lists ("Blue Sheets"), minutes, Internet Drafts, RFCs, and emails.
To obtain such information, the litigant may serve a subpoena on the IETF seeking the information. Subpoena serving and response procedures are discussed at: iaoc.ietf.org/subpoena.html.
The term "documents" is often defined broadly by subpoenas and can include both electronic and hard copy sources, such as working group session attendance lists ("Blue Sheets"), minutes, Internet Drafts, RFCs, and emails. There is a standard $ 500 charge for processing each subpoena request for physical documents.
May 2012 Summit Data Systems vs EMC
March 2012 VirnetX v. Cisco Systems, et al from VirnetX
March 2012 VirnetX v. Cisco Systems, et al from Siemens