---
key: w3c-software-20021231
is_deprecated: yes
short_name: W3C-SOFTWARE-20021231
name: W3C Software Notice and License (2002-12-31)
category: Permissive
owner: W3C - World Wide Web Consortium
homepage_url: https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/2002/copyright-software-20021231
---

W3C Software Notice and License

Status: This license was applied to software published by W3C before 13 May,
2015. On 13 May, 2015, W3C adopted a revised and renamed "software and document"
license and applied the new license to all W3C documents that had previously
been made available under this license. The new license grants all permissions
that had been granted under this 2002 license.

This work (and included software, documentation such as READMEs, or other
related items) is being provided by the copyright holders under the following
license. 

License

By obtaining, using and/or copying this work, you (the licensee) agree that you
have read, understood, and will comply with the following terms and conditions.

Permission to copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation,
with or without modification, for any purpose and without fee or royalty is
hereby granted, provided that you include the following on ALL copies of the
software and documentation or portions thereof, including modifications:

    The full text of this NOTICE in a location viewable to users of the
    redistributed or derivative work.

    Any pre-existing intellectual property disclaimers, notices, or terms and
    conditions. If none exist, the W3C Software Short Notice should be included
    (hypertext is preferred, text is permitted) within the body of any
    redistributed or derivative code.

    Notice of any changes or modifications to the files, including the date
    changes were made. (We recommend you provide URIs to the location from which
    the code is derived.)

Disclaimers

THIS SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS," AND COPYRIGHT HOLDERS MAKE
NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
TO, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THAT
THE USE OF THE SOFTWARE OR DOCUMENTATION WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY THIRD PARTY
PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, TRADEMARKS OR OTHER RIGHTS.

COPYRIGHT HOLDERS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY USE OF THE SOFTWARE OR DOCUMENTATION.

The name and trademarks of copyright holders may NOT be used in advertising or
publicity pertaining to the software without specific, written prior permission.
Title to copyright in this software and any associated documentation will at all
times remain with copyright holders.

Notes

This version: http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/2002/copyright-software-20021231

This formulation of W3C's notice and license became active on December 31 2002.
This version removes the copyright ownership notice such that this license can
be used with materials other than those owned by the W3C, reflects that ERCIM is
now a host of the W3C, includes references to this specific dated version of the
license, and removes the ambiguous grant of "use". Otherwise, this version is
the same as the previous version and is written so as to preserve the Free
Software Foundation's assessment of GPL compatibility and OSI's certification
under the Open Source Definition.