PUBLIC DOMAIN NOTICE
National Center for Biotechnology Information

With the exception of certain third-party files summarized below, this software /database is a "United States Government Work" under the terms of the United States Copyright Act. It was written as part of the author's official duties as a United States Government employees and thus cannot be copyrighted. This software /database is freely available to the public for use. The NLM 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 author in any work or product based on this material.

EXCEPTIONS (in all cases excluding NCBI-written makefiles):

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Copyright F.A.Q.

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.

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.

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 '< email address>'.