The following is the literal license as a plain text file for direct display.
Open Standard License 1.0.
February 27, 2024.
This license applies to the Standards and their Specifications and designates legal requirements on Implementations of the Standard and their respective Specifications.
Terminology:
- Standard: A set of rules and guidelines.
- Specification: A specific interpretation or clarification of a Standard, such as the documentation that describes how to use or follow a Standard.
- Implementation: The applying of some Standard or Specification.
- API: Application Programming Interface*.
- ABI: Application Binary Interface**.
- Service: Any action or labor performed by one party for another party (such as one person helping another person).
- Protocol: In the context of computers and software, this is a Standard focused on communication between at least two parties (often referring to Internet communication) and is at the most basic level an agreement of rules between two (or more) parties.
- Provider: A party who provides a Service of any kind (or equivalent functionality) that utilizes a Protocol or provides a Service that Implements or follows a Standard or Specification to another party.
* The API term is commonly mis-represented as Services or Protocols (such as "Web API" which in actuality should be called "Web Service" or "Web Protocol").
An API instructs a party, usually a programmer, on how to use a dependency when programming some software that utilizes said dependency.
An API is a Specification of some Implementation of a Standard be it a formally defined Standard or an informally defined Standard.
An API may be an Implementation of a Standard or a part of an Implementation of a Standard.
An API is, in effect, documentation.
** The ABI term refers to an Application Binary Interface and represents the compiled Implementation of some API.
An ABI may not always exist for some API, such as for pure scripting languages.
An ABI is neither a Specification nor a Standard.
An ABI is an Implementation of an API making it an Implementation of a Standard or Specification.
01) Principles of this license:
01) The Standard or Specification is and must be freely and publicly available to use and implement irrespective of any license, patent, or other restriction of any kind for any reason of some Implementation or Provider.
02) All patents associated are and must be royalty-free for unrestricted use and must not impose any restrictions on any third party's Implementation of this Standard in any way for any reason beyond those described in this license.
03) There are not and there must not be any agreements or requirements for the execution of this license grant, including but not limited to: NDA, grant, click-through, or any form of paperwork (including but not limited to all non-paper forms of paperwork, such as digital forms).
04) There are not and must not be any restrictions on the form of an Implementation of a Standard or Specification.
05) Implementations of a Standard or Specification may be under any license so long as that license:
a) Does not restrict, alter, or invalidate this license in any manner.
b) Does not impose any form of restrictions to access, to use, to implement, to extend, or to deviate from anything allowed or otherwise granted by this license.
06) This license shall prohibit any form of restricting any parties to access, to use, to implement, to extend, or o deviate from this Standard unless:
a) Restricted by this license.
b) Unless there is a breach of license conditions.
07) This license is irrevocable unless there is a breach of the license conditions.
08) This license does not grant any kind of warranty or liability under any circumstances to any party for any reason, be it direct, indirect, consequential, incidental, or in any other form.
09) This license does not restrict any party from optionally providing their own warranty or liability on any Implementation but such warranties or liabilities are completely separate and independent of this license in all circumstances for any reason, be it direct, indirect, consequential, incidental, or for any other reason.
10) The final and absolute determination of any terminology and intent of this license is by the original owner of this license or a party explicitly authorized by the original license owner or party, and is not in any way subject to re-interpretation or re-definition in any way for any reason by any party including but not limited to judges, juries, lawyers, attorneys, technicians, experts, or governments.
11) Any restriction, alteration, removal, invalidation, making illegal, or making unlawful of or against any part of this license by any party, such as but not limited to a government or judge, shall not permanently alter this license in any way for any reason. That is for example, if some court deems some part of this unlawful and then later makes it lawful, then the now re-lawfulized parts do and must immediately apply once more as if it were never made unlawful.
12) When at any point in time under any government any parts of this license is restricted, altered, removed, invalidated or otherwise made illegal, unlawful, or unenforceable is reversed, restored, or otherwise made legal, lawful, and enforceable again, then these parts are immediately in affect again.
13) If at any point in time some party, such as but not limited to a government, makes any change to this license (like those described in [01.11]) and the licensee for any reason at any time is no longer subject to a given jurisdiction, then those parts of the original license are immediately in effect as if they were never altered or restricted in the first place. For example, if a licensee leaves the jurisdiction of some government that otherwise restricted some part of this license then that otherwise restricted part is immediately in affect again now that the licensee is out of the given jurisdiction.