Discussion List Archives

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Revised statement of policy on CIF

  • To: Multiple recipients of list <comcifs-l@iucr.org>
  • Subject: Re: Revised statement of policy on CIF
  • From: John Faber <faber@icdd.com>
  • Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 19:27:05 +0100 (BST)
Well-done.
John

At 05:34 PM 3/29/00 +0100, you wrote:
>Thank you to John and Brian for your input. After some further rounds of
>offline discussion, the following draft has been produced with the approval
>of Syd, Herbert, David and myself. It is our intention to proceed with this
>draft unless there are any strong objections, and to ask for professional
>legal advice on the exact form of words that should be published.
>
>With best wishes
>Brian
>
>
>==============================================================================
>
>                           The IUCr Policy for
>          the Protection and the Promotion of the CIF Standard for
>                 Exchanging and Archiving Electronic Data.
>
>                               -------------
>
>OVERVIEW
>
>The Crystallographic Information File (CIF) is a standard for information
>interchange promulgated by the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr).
>CIF (Hall, Allen & Brown, 1991) is the recommended method for submitting
>publications to Acta Crystallographica Section C and reports of crystal
>structure determinations to other sections of Acta Crystallographica and many
>other journals. CIF is used increasingly in the structural sciences as an
>exchange format, and is having significant influence on other fields.
>
>                               -------------
>
>STATEMENT OF INTENT
>
>The IUCr's sole interest in the development and maintenance of CIF is the
>standardisation of information interchange in crystallography and related
>structural sciences.
>
>                               -------------
>
>PROTECTION OF THE STANDARD
>
>To protect CIF as a standard for interchanging and archiving electronic
>data, the IUCr, on behalf of the scientific community,
>
>       * holds the copyright on the standard itself,
>
>       * owns the associated trademarks and service marks, and
>
>       * holds a patent on the STAR File which is the basis of CIF.
>
>These intellectual property claims relate solely to the interchange format.
>
>                               -------------
>
>PROMOTION OF THE STANDARD
>
>The sole requirement that the IUCr imposes, through its patent, trademarks,
>service marks and copyright of the CIF standard, on software purporting to
>process CIF data is that the following conditions be met prior to sale or
>distribution.
>
>*  Software claiming to READ files written in the CIF standard should be able
>    to extract the relevant data from any file conformant to the CIF syntax.
>
>*  Software claiming to WRITE files in the CIF standard should produce
>    files that conform to the CIF syntax.
>
>The IUCr, through its Committee on CIF Standards, will assist any developer
>to verify that software meets these conformance conditions.
>
>                               -------------
>
>USER'S RIGHTS TO THE DATA
>
>Copyright in the information stored in a CIF remains with the originator of
>that information ("the author") or such other body to which such rights have
>been voluntarily transferred by the author. CIFs are intended for information
>transfer, and may be copied, transferred or incorporated in larger data
>collections so long as the rights of the author (or copyright assignee) are
>preserved and respected.
>
>                               -------------
>
>============================================================================== 
>

_____________________________________
Dr. John Faber
Principal Scientist
ICDD
12 Campus Boulevard
Newtown Square, PA, 19073
ph : (610)325-9814
fax: (610)325-9823
e-mail: faber@icdd.com
also see: http:\\www.icdd.com