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The caBIG™ Model Software Agreement License Guidelines

The caBIG™ Model Software Agreement License Guidelines. DATA SHARING AND INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL WORKSPACE December 2007. Outline. Framework Licensing principles caBIG™ Products NCI-funded caBIG™ Software caBIG™ Software developed with other funding. Framework: NIH Policy.

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The caBIG™ Model Software Agreement License Guidelines

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  1. The caBIG™ Model Software Agreement LicenseGuidelines DATA SHARING AND INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL WORKSPACE December 2007

  2. Outline • Framework • Licensing principles • caBIG™ Products • NCI-funded caBIG™ Software • caBIG™ Software developed with other funding

  3. Framework: NIH Policy • Research resources, including software and data, should be broadly disseminated in order to promote further research, development, and applications. • Broad use of these resources will ultimately benefit public health. • Sponsored research agreements with industry should ensure ability to maintain academic freedom, disseminate research results and promote utilization of technologies developed with NIH funding.

  4. Framework: NCI Mission and caBIG™ • Core caBIG™ principles: • Open source • Open development • Open access • Federation • Licensing strategies for caBIG™-related IP: • Must be informed by caBIG™ core principles • Data Sharing and Intellectual Capital Strategic Level Working Group (DSIC WG) is a resource for questions about licensing.

  5. Licensing Principles: Applicability of the license differs depending on the funding source • NCI-funded caBIG™ Software • Must use the model agreement • Or, an alternative with additional or stricter terms • caBIG™ Software developed with other funding • Not required to use the caBIG™ license, nor an equivalent • Still subject to trademark and marketing restrictions

  6. Licensing Principles: Three major models exist • GNU Public License (GPL) • Developed for use with UNIX operating system • Open referred to as “copyleft”: Work can be freely distributed under the same licensing terms as the original • Often called the “viral” open source license • Lesser General Public License (LGPL) • For use with data libraries and other collections • Applies to the program itself, but not to linking programs • Berkeley Software Development (BSD) • Developed for Berkeley UNIX • Is non-viral: Derivative works not subject to the original open source terms • May therefore be more attractive for commercial use

  7. caBIG™ Software funded by other sources Demand: • Future NCI funding recipients will be encouraged to use the caBIG™ infrastructure to promote interoperability, standardization and collaboration. This need in turn will create a demand for downstream software tools compatible with caBIG™ standards. Compliance with caBIG™ Standards: • Compliance must be demonstrated in order to assert caBIG™ -compatibility. Licensing: • The Compatibility Guidelines donot require open distribution of source code of privately funded “caBIG™ -compatible” software; whether to distribute on an open or closed basis is developer’s business decision.

  8. Licensing Principles: The caBIG™ Model Open Source Software License • The full caBIG™ Model License (links) is available on the DSIC WS Web page of the caBIG™ Web site, https://cabig.nci.nih.gov/ • Uses a “BSD-style” license

  9. NCI-funded caBIG™ Software • Funding terms for NCI-funded caBIG™ Software: • Source code, object code and related documentation must be available at no charge to all caBIG™ participants and the public with “unlimited rights” • “Unlimited” rights are the rights to disclose, reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly in any manner and for any purpose (FAR Section 52.227-14, “Rights in Data – General”). • End users have no rights to use NCI-owned trademarks or the names “The National Cancer Institute” or “NCI” to endorse or promote products derived from NCI-funded caBIG™ Software. • There is no affirmative obligation to distribute or otherwise make available the source code of derivative works. • These terms are consistent with Open Source Initiative (www.opensource.org) (OSI) definition of “open source.”

  10. NCI-funded caBIG™ Software, cont’d • “Non-viral” – no reciprocity requirement for distribution of derivative works (“modifications”): • Choice of distribution method for source code of derivative works is an economic decision rather than a contractual term required by NCI. Closed distribution may represent a valid choice depending on the type of software product (applications vs. databases vs. infrastructure). • Distribution of NCI-funded caBIG™ Software that is bundled, combined, integrated or packaged with components that are licensed under reciprocal open source licenses (e.g., GNU GPL) would subject NCI-funded caBIG™ Software to such provisions, and thus conflict with NCI funding terms. Instead, developers of NCI-funded caBIG™ Software that needs such components to function should provide instructions to end users to install those components separately.

  11. NCI-funded caBIG™ Software, cont’d • “Non-viral” – no reciprocity requirement for distribution of derivative works (“modifications”): • Permitting the distribution of derivative products on either proprietary or open source basis allows NCI to maximize total number of end users of caBIG™ Software even though some derivative products may not be widely available. This approach is consistent with the BSD license terms, also available at the OSI website. • Risk associated with closed distribution of derivative works mitigated by: • NCI’s strong commitment to develop core caBIG™ infrastructure • Open and standards-based software development process, backed up by NCI’s exclusive control of caBIG™ trademark

  12. NCI-funded caBIG™ Software, cont’d • Licensing NCI-funded caBIG™ Software: • NCI-funded caBIG™ Software may be licensed with additional restrictions that do not conflict with terms and conditions of funding for development of NCI-funded caBIG™ Software. • Alternative licenses should be submitted to NCI for review and approval. NCI will request an analysis clearly demonstrating how the licenses are alike and how they differ. • In response to requests from caBIG™ members, DSIC WG prepared an initial draft of licensing guidelines and a BSD-style model software license agreement for use by Cancer Centers with personnel engaged in the development of caBIG™ Software. Comments were solicited from the community, and several useful comments were received and integrated into the model.

  13. NCI-funded caBIG™ Software, cont’d • Additional terms: • End user documentation must acknowledge the author. • If there is no end user documentation, derivative software product itself must acknowledge the author. • Licensee is solely responsible for the consequences of incorporating caBIG™ Software into third-party software • Comprehensive disclaimer of expressed and implied warranties.

  14. All caBIG™ Software however funded must comply with caBIG™ Compatibility Standards • Compliance with technical standards set forth in caBIG™ Compatibility Guidelines required to market/represent that software is caBIG™-compatible. • NCI owns and exclusively controls caBIG™ trademark and will only license use for software that complies with caBIG™ Compatibility Guidelines. • NCI-funded software developed in accordance with specifications that ensure compliance with caBIG™ standards. • Demonstration of caBIG™ compatibility of software developed with other funding sources made through certification process, resulting in qualification for caBIG™ trademark license rights.

  15. Contact Information Marsha Young Workspace Lead Data Sharing and Intellectual Capital (DSIC) Workspace 240-314-5995 young_marsha@bah.com

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