Choreo-Mini Source License
Version 1.2 (March 2026)

Copyright (c) 2026 Sivasathivel Kandasamy
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivasathivelkandasamy/

This license allows broad use of Choreo-Mini, including commercial use as a
library or dependency, while restricting third-party productization of
Choreo-Mini itself.

1. Definitions

"Software" means this project, including its source code, build artifacts,
and documentation released under this license.

"Derivative Work" means any modification of the Software, or any work based
on the Software, where Software code is changed, extended, or incorporated in
a way that creates a derived codebase.

For clarity, merely importing, linking, calling public APIs, or configuring
the Software without modifying its code does not by itself create a
Derivative Work.

"Larger Work" means software that uses, links to, or depends on the Software,
but is otherwise independently developed and not itself a Derivative Work.

"Productize" means, for third parties, to do any of the following with the
Software or a Derivative Work:
(a) sell, license, or sublicense it as a product, plugin, extension, toolkit,
    model service, or API offering;
(b) offer it as a hosted or managed service (including SaaS) where users
    access its functionality over a network;
(c) provide paid access to the Software or a Derivative Work, including when
    bundled with other services.

"Internal Use" means use within your own legal entity and its controlled
entities, where no external party receives direct access to the Software or a
Derivative Work as a standalone offering.

2. License Grant

Subject to compliance with this license, you are granted a non-exclusive,
worldwide, royalty-free right to:
(a) use, run, and reproduce the Software for any purpose, including commercial
    Internal Use;
(b) modify the Software and create Derivative Works;
(c) use the Software inside Larger Works, including proprietary applications;
(d) distribute unmodified copies of the Software, provided this license and
    attribution notices are included.

3. Productization Restriction

Except for the original author (Sivasathivel Kandasamy), no person or entity
may Productize the Software or any Derivative Work under this license.

This license does not provide a case-by-case approval or exception process for
third-party Productization.

Clarification: using the Software as an internal dependency, build tool, or
embedded library inside a Larger Work does not by itself constitute
Productization, so long as the Software is not offered to third parties as a
standalone product, API, plugin, extension, or hosted platform.

Safe-harbor examples (permitted under this license):
(a) using the Software in internal enterprise workflows, including commercial
    business operations;
(b) shipping a proprietary Larger Work that depends on the unmodified
    Software, with required license notice retained;
(c) using the Software in private build, testing, or deployment tooling.

Examples of prohibited third-party Productization:
(a) selling a modified fork, plugin, or extension based on the Software;
(b) offering a paid hosted API or SaaS where users access Software or
    Derivative Work functionality over a network;
(c) charging for direct access to Software or Derivative Work capabilities,
    even when bundled with other paid services.

4. Copyleft for Distributed or Hosted Derivatives

If you distribute a Derivative Work to third parties, or make a Derivative
Work available to third parties over a network (for example as a hosted API or
service), you must:
(a) provide the complete corresponding source code of that Derivative Work;
(b) license that Derivative Work under this same license;
(c) include this license text and preserve copyright notices;
(d) clearly mark modified files.

Scope limitation: this clause applies to the Software and Derivative Work
portions only. It does not require disclosure of independent source code in a
Larger Work that is not derived from the Software.

5. Citation and Attribution

Any public materials or user-facing interface that references, demonstrates,
or provides access to software using the Software or a Derivative Work must
include visible attribution containing at least:
- Project: Choreo-Mini
- Author: Sivasathivel Kandasamy
- Source: https://github.com/Sivasathivel/Choreo-mini

Examples include public repositories, documentation sites, demo pages,
benchmark publications, product websites, and service UI pages. Backend-only
private deployments with no public-facing materials are not required to
display attribution.

6. Contributions and Relicensing Rights

By submitting any contribution for inclusion in this project (including pull
requests, patches, or code changes), you agree that:
(a) your contribution may be distributed under this license; and
(b) you grant the author a perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free
    right to use, modify, sublicense, and relicense your contribution,
    including in future dual-licensed, commercial, or enterprise editions.

You represent that you have the legal right to submit the contribution under
these terms.

7. Patent and Trademark

Each contributor grants a non-exclusive, royalty-free patent license for patent
claims necessarily infringed by their contribution as included in the Software.
No trademark rights are granted by this license.

8. Reserved Author Rights and Future Licensing

The author reserves the exclusive right to:
(a) publish enterprise, dual-licensed, or otherwise differently licensed
    future versions; and
(b) modify license terms for future releases.

Rights granted for previously released versions are not retroactively revoked
for recipients who remain in compliance with the license applicable to those
versions.

9. Disclaimer of Warranty and Limitation of Liability

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR
CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES, OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF, OR IN
CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

10. Termination

Any material breach of this license automatically terminates rights granted
under it. Rights may be reinstated only by explicit written notice from the
author.
