Intellectual rights

This document provides information on W3C intellectual rights policies. The primary goals of these policies are:

• To encourage the widespread dissemination of W3C work.
• To preserve the integrity of W3C work by eliminating confusion about its source and status.

§ Trademark

Please see Getting Started with the W3C I18n site, Richard Ishida, ed. Copyright © 2009 W3C ^®'

§ May I modify a W3C specification and redistribute it? May I call it, for example, HTML 3.2.1?

No and no. W3C does not, in general permit derivative works created from its specifications in order to avoid interoperability problems.

§ I am a teacher. Can I print out specifications and other documents for my class to read?

Yes. Note that your browser quite likely enables you to print documents with the source URL displayed at the top or bottom of the page; this is useful to ensuring that people are aware of the document origin. Please also direct your students' attention to the document's copyright notice.

§ I have a website that mirrors (has copies of) useful Web documents. May I make copies of your documents and serve them from my site?

Yes.

§ I am a writer. May I make a "fair use" excerpt from a specification for my analysis?

Yes, if you believe your usage falls within the exception of fair use (e.g., in the U.S. Translations of the W3C copyright notice.

Please inform us when you have completed the translation by sending a message to [email protected].

See our patent policy FAQ for information about GNU General Public License (GPL) and may be redistributed under the GPL. The GPL ensures users always have the ability to run, change, or redistribute software with or without changes; it also prevents such software from being bundled with closed/proprietary software such that users lose their rights to that free code in the new product. The W3C license is compatible with this license and can be redistributed while complying with both the W3C and GPL software license.

§ Is code released under the W3C license compatible with non-copyleft / proprietary licenses?

Yes. The W3C license permits W3C code to be used in other (non-copyleft) licenses or even proprietary software.

§ Is software documentation covered by the software license or the document license?

The W3C software license.

You may not make changes to Amaya and continue to call it by a trademarked term or misrepresent the origin, capabilities, or liabilities associated with its use. You may make valid assertions, such that it is based on Amaya code, or that it is compliant with a Recommended Specification of W3C.

§ W3C website

§ Do I need permission to link to the W3C website?

No. Links are merely references to other sites. No permission is required to link to w3.org or to any other website. For more information, see the W3C Recommendation "link myths.

Please note that any form of misrepresentation of W3C work or your relation to W3C, whether achieved through links, frames, URL manipulations, server redirects, or other means, is forbidden. For instance, do not use mislead readers into thinking that W3C content is published by anyone other than W3C. It is your obligation to be clear in your representations; W3C does not sign waivers about who may link to us.

§ May I use a screenshot of part of the W3C website?

Yes. As long as the screenshot is not used in any manner that implies W3C sponsorship or endorsement of your product, service, or Internet site, no permission is required to use a screenshot. W3C does not sign waivers or authorizations, however we appreciate that you notify us by email to [email protected], with a reference to the screenshot (i.e., a URI is preferred over an attached copy of the screenshot) and a brief description of the intended use.

Screenshots MUST NOT be used to circumvent W3C's logo usage policy.