CONTENTS

  Public Domain Notice
  Exceptions (for bundled 3rd-party code)
  Copyright F.A.Q.


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                     PUBLIC DOMAIN NOTICE
         National Center for Biotechnology Information

With the exception of certain third-party files summarized below, this
software is a "United States Government Work" under the terms of the
United States Copyright Act.  It was written as part of the authors'
official duties as United States Government employees and thus cannot
be copyrighted.  This software is freely available to the public for
use. The National Library of Medicine and the U.S. Government have not
placed any restriction on its use or reproduction.

Although all reasonable efforts have been taken to ensure the accuracy
and reliability of the software and data, the NLM and the U.S.
Government do not and cannot warrant the performance or results that
may be obtained by using this software or data. The NLM and the U.S.
Government disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including
warranties of performance, merchantability or fitness for any
particular purpose.

Please cite the authors in any work or product based on this material.


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Copyright F.A.Q.


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Q. Our product makes use of the NCBI source code, and we made changes
   and additions to that version of the NCBI code to better fit it to
   our needs. Can we copyright the code, and how?

A. You can copyright only the *changes* or the *additions* you made to the
   NCBI source code. You should identify unambiguously those sections of
   the code that were modified, e.g. by commenting any changes you made
   in the code you distribute. Therefore, your license has to make clear
   to users that your product is a combination of code that is public domain
   within the U.S. (but may be subject to copyright by the U.S. in foreign
   countries) and code that has been created or modified by you.

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Q. Can we (re)license all or part of the NCBI source code?

A. No, you cannot license or relicense the source code written by NCBI
   since you cannot claim any copyright in the software that was developed
   at NCBI as a 'government work' and consequently is in the public domain
   within the U.S.

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Q. What if these copyright guidelines are not clear enough or are not
   applicable to my particular case?

A. Contact us. Send your questions to 'sra-tools@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov'.