1CONTENTS
2
3  Public Domain Notice
4  Exceptions (for bundled 3rd-party code)
5  Copyright F.A.Q.
6
7
8==============================================================
9                     PUBLIC DOMAIN NOTICE
10         National Center for Biotechnology Information
11
12With the exception of certain third-party files summarized below, this
13software is a "United States Government Work" under the terms of the
14United States Copyright Act.  It was written as part of the authors'
15official duties as United States Government employees and thus cannot
16be copyrighted.  This software is freely available to the public for
17use. The National Library of Medicine and the U.S. Government have not
18placed any restriction on its use or reproduction.
19
20Although all reasonable efforts have been taken to ensure the accuracy
21and reliability of the software and data, the NLM and the U.S.
22Government do not and cannot warrant the performance or results that
23may be obtained by using this software or data. The NLM and the U.S.
24Government disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including
25warranties of performance, merchantability or fitness for any
26particular purpose.
27
28Please cite the authors in any work or product based on this material.
29
30
31==============================================================
32EXCEPTIONS (in all cases excluding NCBI-written makefiles):
33
34See LICENSE from https://github.com/ncbi/ncbi-vdb
35
36==============================================================
37Copyright F.A.Q.
38
39
40--------------------------------------------------------------
41Q. Our product makes use of the NCBI source code, and we made changes
42   and additions to that version of the NCBI code to better fit it to
43   our needs. Can we copyright the code, and how?
44
45A. You can copyright only the *changes* or the *additions* you made to the
46   NCBI source code. You should identify unambiguously those sections of
47   the code that were modified, e.g. by commenting any changes you made
48   in the code you distribute. Therefore, your license has to make clear
49   to users that your product is a combination of code that is public domain
50   within the U.S. (but may be subject to copyright by the U.S. in foreign
51   countries) and code that has been created or modified by you.
52
53--------------------------------------------------------------
54Q. Can we (re)license all or part of the NCBI source code?
55
56A. No, you cannot license or relicense the source code written by NCBI
57   since you cannot claim any copyright in the software that was developed
58   at NCBI as a 'government work' and consequently is in the public domain
59   within the U.S.
60
61--------------------------------------------------------------
62Q. What if these copyright guidelines are not clear enough or are not
63   applicable to my particular case?
64
65A. Contact us. Send your questions to 'sra-tools@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov'.
66
67