Server Side Public License (SSPL)
Version 1, October 16, 2018

Copyright (C) 2025 Vocal

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license
document, but changing it is not allowed.

                    TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. Definitions.

"This License" refers to Server Side Public License.

"The Program" refers to any copyrightable work licensed under this License.

"You" means an individual or Legal Entity exercising permissions granted by
this License.

"Source Code" means the preferred form of the Program for making modifications
to it, including but not limited to software source code, documentation source,
and configuration files.

"Object Code" means any non-source form of the Program.

"Contributor" means any Legal Entity that creates or contributes to the
creation of a Modification.

"Modification" means any work, whether in source or object form, that is based
on (or derived from) the Program, for which the editorial revisions,
annotations, elaborations, or other modifications represent, as a whole, an
original work of authorship.

"Service" means making the functionality of the Program or a modified version
available to third parties as a service, including but not limited to offering
the Program as a cloud-based service, a hosted API, a managed service, or a
software-as-a-service (SaaS) product.

1. Source Code.

The "source code" for a work means the preferred form of the work for making
modifications to it. "Object code" means any non-source form of a work.

2. Basic Permissions.

All rights granted under this License are granted for the term of copyright on
the Program, and are irrevocable provided the stated conditions are met. This
License explicitly affirms your unlimited permission to run the unmodified
Program for personal use, internal business use, research, or education.

You may make, run and propagate covered works that you do not convey, without
conditions so long as your license otherwise remains in force. You may convey
covered works to others for the purpose of having them make modifications
exclusively for you, or provide you with facilities for running those works,
provided that you comply with the terms of this License in conveying all
material for which you do not control copyright.

3. Protecting Users' Legal Rights From Anti-Circumvention Law.

No covered work shall be deemed part of an effective technological measure
under any applicable law fulfilling obligations under article 11 of the WIPO
copyright treaty adopted on 20 December 1996.

4. Conveying Verbatim Copies.

You may convey verbatim copies of the Program's source code as you receive it,
in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on
each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep
intact all notices stating that this License applies to the code; and give all
recipients a copy of this License along with the Program.

5. Conveying Modified Source Versions.

You may convey a work based on the Program, or the modifications to produce it
from the Program, in the form of source code under the terms of section 4,
provided that you also meet all of these conditions:

a) The work must carry prominent notices stating that you modified it, and
giving a relevant date.
b) The work must carry prominent notices stating that it is released under
this License.
c) You must license the entire work, as a whole, under this License to
anyone who comes into possession of a copy.

6. Conveying Non-Source Forms.

You may convey the Program in object code form under the terms of sections 4
and 5, provided that you also convey the machine-readable Corresponding Source
under the terms of this License, in one of these ways: on a durable physical
medium; or on a network server accessible to the public.

7. Additional Terms.

You may place additional permissions on material added by you to a covered
work, for which you have or can give appropriate copyright permission.

8. If You Use This Program to Provide a Service.

If you make the functionality of the Program, or a modified version, available
to third parties as a Service, you must make the Service Source Code available
via a network server at no charge, under the terms of this License. The "Service
Source Code" means the source code of: the Program and any Modifications; the
software used to run the Service (including the host software, management
software, user interfaces, and any other software that makes the Service
available); and the scripts used to control deployment of this software.

This requirement applies regardless of whether you charge for the Service or
offer it for free. If you make a modified version of the Program available as
a Service without complying with this section, you may not make the Program
available as a Service at all.

9. Termination.

You may not propagate or modify a covered work except as expressly provided
under this License. Any attempt otherwise to propagate or modify it is void,
and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.

However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your license from a
particular copyright holder is reinstated (a) provisionally, unless and until
the copyright holder explicitly and finally terminates your license, and (b)
permanently, if the copyright holder fails to notify you of the violation by
some reasonable means prior to 60 days after the cessation.

10. Disclaimer of Warranty.

THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE
LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING, THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR
OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER
EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

11. Limitation of Liability.

IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY
COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MODIFIES AND/OR CONVEYS THE PROGRAM AS
PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL,
INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE
THE PROGRAM.

12. Interpretation.

If the disclaimer of warranty and limitation of liability provided above cannot
be given local legal effect according to their terms, reviewing courts shall
apply local law that most closely approximates an absolute waiver of all civil
liability in connection with the Program.

                     END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

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WHAT THIS MEANS IN PLAIN LANGUAGE

You CAN:

- Use Vocal for personal or internal business use (self-hosted)
- Modify Vocal and run the modified version internally
- Integrate Vocal into your own products (where you control the deployment)
- Contribute improvements back as open source
- Redistribute Vocal under this same license
- Run Vocal as a service for your own organization

You MUST (if you offer Vocal as a service to third parties):

- Publish all source code for the complete service stack under this License,
  including your deployment scripts, management code, and infrastructure code

You CANNOT:

- Offer Vocal (or a modified version) as a managed cloud service / SaaS to
  external users without complying with Section 8 above
- Remove or alter this license notice

EXAMPLES:

ALLOWED:

- Running Vocal on-prem for your company's internal transcription pipeline
- Building a desktop or mobile app that uses a self-hosted Vocal API
- A startup building a voice product where Vocal runs on their own servers
- Academic research or personal projects

REQUIRES Section 8 compliance (open-source your full stack):

- "TranscriptionCloud.io" — selling managed Vocal as a SaaS to customers
- Offering a hosted Vocal API to external developers (paid or free)
- Any cloud service where external users send audio to your Vocal instance

For the authoritative SSPL v1 legal text see:
https://www.mongodb.com/licensing/server-side-public-license

For commercial licensing inquiries (e.g. SaaS use without open-sourcing your
stack), contact the project maintainers via GitHub Issues.
