On Aug 19, 2021, at 8:30 PM, John Curran <jcurran@arin.net> wrote:
[some parts read and omitted for brevity]
ARIN is the successor operator of the registry database for the region, and we also recognize that some organizations have obtained assignments of similar bundles of rights via implied contract under which recipients desired to cooperate in (and gain the benefits of coordination from) the Internet Number Registry system in the period before ARIN’s administration of the database. ARIN provides such parties (“legacy resource holders”) and their legal successors with the opportunity to formalize their rights (if they wish) via entry into ARIN's registration services agreement.
We have many cases where the rights to specific blocks have been treated as “property” of an estate during bankruptcy or probate proceedings, and this should be no surprise - contractual rights have value and as such can be considered part of an estate and transferred accordingly. It is worth noting that ARIN spends a bit of time engaging to make sure that community policy is followed regarding such transfers and to date we have never had to update ARIN’s database without adherence to our policies and entry into an RSA by the recipient.
If you think that the “IP address blocks” that you were issued are reflected by the listing of your organization on that entry in the ARIN database, then all of the description above makes sense. There are some other theories out there about what constitutes an “IP address block” – I’ve heard all manner of theories including 'rights to integers’, 'reservations in routing tables’, and pretty much everything in between. Diversity of views is a wonderful thing, but I would advise some caution if someone offers to sell such ephemerally defined “IP address blocks” to you – good luck, but remember that they don’t involve the ARIN database or its entries and one might find them somewhat lacking as a result...
John, what an incredibly clear explanation! Thank you for taking the time! Anne -- Anne P. Mitchell, Attorney at Law CEO Institute for Social Internet Public Policy (ISIPP) Author: Section 6 of CAN-SPAM (The Affiliate Spam Section) Board of Directors, Denver Internet Exchange Chair Emeritus, Asilomar Microcomputer Workshop Former Counsel: MAPS Anti-Spam Blacklist