Process

Legal Provisions Relating to Gimel Foundation Documents

1. Background

Gimel Foundation aims at a more inclusive, fair and just global digital economy, including helping to achieve U.N. SDGs. It was established to acquire, hold, maintain, and license intellectual property associated with these targets. Contributors grant the Gimel Foundation certain licenses with respect to their Contributions. These Legal Provisions describe the rights and licenses the Gimel Foundation grants to others with respect to Contributions and Documents, as well as certain restrictions, limitations, and notices relating to these Documents. Capitalized terms in these Legal Provisions shall have the meanings set forth herein.

2. Applicability of these Legal Provisions

a. These Legal Provisions are effective as of 1 July 2025 (“Effective Date”).

b. The licenses granted by the Gimel Foundation pursuant to these Legal Provisions apply only to Contributions and Documents submitted or published after the Effective Date.

c. These Legal Provisions may be amended from time to time by the Gimel Foundation in accordance with the guidance provided by its community and its own operating procedures. Any amendment to these Legal Provisions shall be posted for review at https://www.GimelFoundation.com and shall become effective no earlier than thirty (30) days following its posting. Such amendment shall apply with respect to all Contributions and Documents submitted or published following the effective date of such amendment.

3. Licenses to Documents and Contributions

a. License For Use Within the Gimel Foundation Process. The Gimel Foundation hereby grants to each participant in the Gimel Foundation Process, to the greatest extent that it is permitted to do so, a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide right and license under all copyrights and rights of authors granted to the Gimel Foundation:
i. to copy, publish, display and distribute Contributions and Documents, in whole or in part, as part of the Gimel Foundation Process,
ii. to translate Contributions and Documents, in whole or in part, into languages other than English as part of the Gimel Foundation Process, and
iii. unless explicitly disallowed in the notices contained in a Contribution or Document (as specified in Section 6 below), to modify or prepare derivative works of such Contributions or Documents, in whole or in part, as part of the Gimel Foundation Process.

b. The term Gimel Foundation Process includes the archiving of Documents in perpetuity for reference in support of Foundation activities and the implementation of Foundation standards and specifications.

c. Licenses For Use Outside the Gimel Foundation Process. In addition to the rights granted with respect to Code Components described in Section 4 below, the Gimel Foundation hereby grants to each person who wishes to exercise such rights, to the greatest extent that it is permitted to do so, a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide right and license under all copyrights and rights of authors:
i. to copy, publish, display and distribute Contributions and Documents in full and without modification,
ii. to translate Contributions and Documents into languages other than English, and to copy, publish, display and distribute such translated Contributions and Documents in full and without modification,
iii. to copy, publish, display and distribute unmodified portions of Contributions and Documents and translations thereof, provided that:
(x) each such portion is clearly attributed to Gimel Foundation and identifies the Document or Contribution from which it is taken,
(y) all Gimel Foundation legends, legal notices, and indications of authorship contained in the original Document must also be included where any substantial portion of the text, and in any event where more than one-fifth of such text, is reproduced in a single document or series of related documents.

d. Licenses that are not Granted. The following licenses are not granted pursuant to these Legal Provisions:

i. any license to modify Contributions or Documents, or portions thereof (other than to make translations or to extract, use and modify Code Components as permitted under the licenses granted under Section 4), in any context outside the Gimel Foundation Process, or
ii. any license to publish, display, or distribute Contributions or Documents, or portions thereof, without the required legends and notices described in these Legal Provisions.

e. Requesting Additional Rights. Anyone who wishes to request license rights from the Gimel Foundation in addition to those granted under these Legal Provisions may submit such a request to info@gimelfoundation.com. Such request will be considered by the Gimel Foundation, which will decide regarding the request in its sole discretion and inform the requester of its disposition. In addition, individual Contributors may be contacted regarding licenses to their Contributions. The Gimel Foundation does not limit the ability of Contributors to license their Contributions, so long as those licenses do not affect the rights granted to the Gimel Foundation.

f. Revocation: Gimel Foundation may revoke at its soles discretion the rights and licenses granted to a user with respect to Contributions and Documents, if the user does not use Contributions and Documents in line with Legal Provisions of Gimel Foundation.

4. License to Code Components

a. Definition. Contributions and Documents often include components intended to be directly processed by a computer (“Code Components”).

b. Identification. Text in Contributions and Documents of the types identified above shall constitute “Code Components”. In addition, any text found between the markers and , or otherwise clearly labelled as a Code Component, shall be considered a “Code Component”.

c. License. Unless otherwise specified in the Document, such Code Components are licensed under the terms of the Apache License, Version 2.0 (“Apache 2.0 License”), as follows:
Apache License
Version 2.0, January 2004
Copyright (c) [Insert year] Gimel Foundation and the persons identified as authors of the code.
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the “License”); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License, and excluding defined Exclusions.
You may obtain a copy of the License at https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an “AS IS” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
If a licensee elects to apply the Apache 2.0 License to a Code Component, then the additional licenses and restrictions set forth in Section 3 and elsewhere in these Legal Provisions shall not apply thereto.

d. Attribution. Those who use Code Components under the license granted above are requested to attribute each such Code Component to Gimel Foundation and identify the Document or Contribution from which it is taken. Such attribution may be placed in the code itself (e.g., “This code was derived from Gimel Foundation Document [insert Document number]. Please reproduce this note if possible.”), or any other reasonable location.

e. Revocation: Gimel Foundation may revoke at its soles discretion the rights and licenses granted to a user with respect to Code Components, if the user does not use Code Components in line with Legal Provisions of Gimel Foundation.

5. License Limitations

a. Out-of-scope Exclusions. The licenses granted under these Legal Provisions shall not be deemed to grant any right for those parts of Contributions, Documents and Code Components, which are explicitly defined to be not in scope and thus must be excluded (Exclusions).

b. Supersedure. The terms of any license granted under these Legal Provisions may be superseded by a written agreement between the Gimel Foundation and the licensee that specifically references and supersedes the relevant provisions of these Legal Provisions, except that (i) the Gimel Foundation shall in no event be authorized to grant rights with respect to any Contribution in excess of those which it has been granted by the Contributor, and (ii) the rights granted shall not be less than those otherwise granted under these Legal Provisions.

6. Text To Be Included in Documents

a. Submission Compliance. In each Document:
“This Document is submitted in full conformance with the Gimel Foundation Legal Provisions.”

b. Copyright and License Notice. In each Document:

This document is subject to the Gimel Foundation Legal Provisions in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these provisions carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Apache 2.0 License text as described in Section 4 and are provided without warranty as described in the Apache 2.0 License.

c. Derivative Works and Publication Limitations. If a Contributor chooses to limit the right to make modifications and derivative works of a Contribution, then the following notice must be included. Note that a Contribution with such a notice cannot become a Standards Track document or, in most cases, a working group document.

“This document may not be modified, and derivative works of it may not be created, except to format it for publication as a Gimel Foundation Document or to translate it into languages other than English.”

d. Apache 2.0 License Notification. In lieu of the complete text of the Apache 2.0 License, a person who elects to license a Code Component under the Apache 2.0 License may use the following notification in the program or other file that includes the Code Component: Copyright (c) [Insert year] Gimel Foundation and the persons identified as authors of the code. All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, is permitted pursuant to, and subject to the license terms contained in, the Apache License, Version 2.0.

7. Terms Applicable to All Documents

a. ALL DOCUMENTS AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS AND THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION THEY REPRESENT OR ARE SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE GIMEL FOUNDATION, AND ANY APPLICABLE MANAGERS OF ALTERNATE DOCUMENT STREAMS, DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION THEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

b. The Gimel Foundation takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in any Document or the extent to which any license under such rights might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has made any independent effort to identify any such rights.

c. Copies of Intellectual Property disclosures made to the Gimel Foundation and any assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this specification can be obtained from the Gimel Foundation online repository.

d. The Gimel Foundation invites any interested party to bring to its attention any copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement any standard or specification contained in a Document. Please address the information to the Gimel Foundation at info@gimelfoundation.com.

e. The definitive version of a Document is that published by, or under the auspices of, the Gimel Foundation. Versions of Documents published by third parties, including those translated into other languages, should not be considered definitive. The definitive version of these Legal Provisions is that published by, or under the auspices of, the Gimel Foundation. Versions of these Legal Provisions published by third parties, including those translated into other languages, should not be considered definitive.

f. For the avoidance of doubt, each Contributor licenses each Contribution made to the Gimel Foundation pursuant to these provisions. No language to the contrary, or terms, conditions, or rights that differ from or are inconsistent with the rights and licenses granted herein, shall have any effect and shall be null and void, whether published or posted by such Contributor, or included with or in such Contribution.

8. Template Text

a. Certain Documents may contain text designated as “Template Text” by the inclusion of the following legend in the introduction to the Document: “This Document contains text intended for use as a template as designated below by the markers and or other clear designation. Such Template Text is subject to the provisions of Section 9(b) of the Gimel Foundation Legal Provisions.”

b. In addition to the other rights granted under these Provisions with respect to each Document, the Gimel Foundation grants to all interested persons a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual right and license under all copyrights and rights of authors to insert specific information in place of blanks or placeholders in the Template Text, and to reproduce, publish, and distribute the Template Text combined with such insertions.

Rights Contributors Provide to the Gimel Foundation

This document specifies best current practices for contributions to the Gimel Foundation and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

This document is subject to the Legal Terms of Gimel Foundation and the Legal Terms regarding Gimel Foundation Documents in effect on the date of publication. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document.

Abstract

The Gimel Foundation policies about rights in Contributions are designed to ensure that such Contributions can be made available to the Gimel Foundation and its community, while permitting the authors to retain as many rights as possible. This memo details the Gimel Foundation policies on rights in Contributions and describes the objectives that the policies are designed to meet.

1. Definitions
2. Introduction
3. Exposition of Why These Procedures Are the Way They Are

3.1. Rights Granted in Contributions
3.2. Rights to Use Contributions
3.3. Right to Produce Derivative Works
3.4. Rights to Use Trademarks
3.5. Contributions Not Subject to Copyright
3.6. Copyright in Foundation Documents

4. Non-Gimel Foundation Documents
5. Rights in Contributions

5.1. General Policy
5.2. Confidentiality Obligations
5.3. Rights Granted by Contributors to the Gimel Foundation
5.4. Sublicenses by the Gimel Foundation
5.5. Representations and Warranties
5.6. No Duty to Publish
5.7. Trademarks
5.8. Copyright in Foundation Documents
5.9. Contributors’ Retention of Rights

6. Legends, Notices and Other Standardized Text in Foundation Documents
7. Security Considerations
8. References
9. Acknowledgments
10. Changes
11. Declaration

1. Definitions

The following definitions are for terms used in the context of this document.

“Contribution”: any submission to the Gimel Foundation intended by the Contributor for publication as part of a Foundation Document or any statement made within the context of Gimel Foundation activity. Such statements include oral statements in sessions as well as written and electronic communications, made at any time or place, that are addressed to:

the Gimel Foundation plenary session,
any working group or portion thereof,
any Birds of a Feather (BOF) session,
the Foundation’s governing bodies or any member thereof on behalf of such bodies,
any mailing list operating under Foundation auspices,
the Foundation Document Editor or relevant submission platform like Github.

Statements made outside of a session, mailing list, or other function, that are clearly not intended to be input to a Foundation activity or function are not Contributions in the context of this document.

“Contributor”: an individual submitting a Contribution.
“Indirect Contributor”: any person who has materially or substantially contributed to a Contribution without being personally involved in its submission to the Foundation.
“Copyright”: the legal right granted to an author in a document or other work of authorship under applicable law. A copyright encompasses all the exclusive rights that an author has in a work, such as the rights to copy, publish, distribute and create derivative works. An author often cedes these rights to their employer or other parties as a condition of employment or compensation.
“Gimel Foundation”: includes all individuals who participate in meetings, working groups, mailing lists, functions, and other activities that are organized or initiated by the Foundation or its appointed bodies.
“Foundation Documents”: official documents, including published materials and drafts, used in the Foundation’s processes.
“Foundation Process”: the activities undertaken by the Gimel Foundation as described above.
“Gimel Foundation LDA”: a legal entity established in accordance with applicable law to hold and administer intellectual property rights for the benefit of the Foundation.
“Draft Document”: temporary documents used in the Foundation Process.
“Legend Instructions”: the standardized text and instructions that are maintained by the Gimel Foundation and are included in Foundation Documents, as well as requirements for including that standardized text.
“Foundation Document”: the publication series used by the Gimel Foundation.
“Reasonably and personally known”: something an individual knows personally or, because of the job the individual holds, would reasonably be expected to know.
“Non-Gimel Foundation documents”: Documents submitted independently of the Foundation Process and not covered by this policy unless so assigned.

2. Introduction

In all matters of copyright and document procedures, the intent is to benefit the community and the public at large, while respecting the legitimate rights of others.

Under the laws of most countries and current international treaties, authors obtain numerous rights in the works they produce, automatically. These rights include copyrights, moral rights, and other rights. In many cases, if the author produces a work within the scope of employment, most of those rights are assigned to the employer, either by law or under contract. Certain rights are inalienable.

For Contributions to be used within the Foundation Process, including publication, certain limited rights must be granted to the Gimel Foundation. Contributors must make representations to the Gimel Foundation regarding their ability to grant these rights.

Section 1 provides definitions used in these policies. Sections 3 and 4 explain the rationale for these provisions. Sections 1, 2, 5, and 6 are normative; the other sections are informative.

This document is not intended as legal advice. Readers are advised to consult their own legal advisors if they would like a legal interpretation of their rights or the rights of the Gimel Foundation in any Contributions they make.

This memo does not retroactively obtain additional rights from Contributions that predate the announcement and adoption of these procedures.

3. Exposition of Why These Procedures Are the Way They Are

3.1. Rights Granted in Contributions

The Gimel Foundation must obtain the right to publish a Contribution as official documents or drafts from the Contributors. A primary objective is to secure from authors only the non-exclusive rights needed to develop and publish Foundation Documents and to use Contributions in the Foundation Process and potentially elsewhere. The authors retain all other rights, but cannot withdraw the above rights from the Foundation.

3.2. Rights to Use Contributions

It is important that the Foundation receive assurances from all Contributors that they have the authority to grant the rights they claim to grant. These assurances are requested only to the extent of the Contributor’s reasonable and personal knowledge.

3.3. Right to Produce Derivative Works

The Foundation needs to be able to evolve Documents in response to experience, research, and changing conditions, and may decide to permit others to develop derivative works. The right to produce derivatives, including translations, is required for official documents. Exceptions may apply for proprietary technologies or republications of other organizations’ work, in which case contributors must provide special legends as specified in the Legend Instructions.

3.4. Rights to Use Trademarks

Contributors may seek trademark or service mark protection on terms coined or used in their Contributions. The Foundation requires contributors to grant a perpetual license to the Foundation to use such marks solely in exercising rights to reproduce, publish, discuss, and modify the Contribution. This license does not authorize commercial use of the marks.

3.5. Contributions Not Subject to Copyright

Certain documents, including those in the public domain, may not be protected by the same legal rights. Contributors are asked to grant to the Foundation the same rights as if the Contribution were protected, to the extent possible.

3.6. Copyright in Foundation Documents

Contributors (or their employers) retain ownership of copyright in their Contributions, including drafts and all other forms of input. However, the Foundation, through its legal unit, owns the copyright in documents published as Foundation Documents, other than those classified as Non-Gimel Foundation Documents. This does not diminish Contributors’ rights in their underlying work, however, prevents others from republishing or modifying a Foundation Document in its official format.

4. Non-Gimel Foundation Documents

This document only relates to Contributions made as part of the Foundation Processes. Other documents may be submitted to and published independently. Such documents are not covered by this policy unless specifically stated.

5. Rights in Contributions

5.1. General Policy

By submitting a Contribution, each person submitting and each named co-Contributor is deemed to have read and understood these rules. Submission constitutes a legally-binding agreement to comply with the terms and conditions herein. The Contributor is further deemed to have obtained necessary permissions from any party that may have rights in the Contribution.

5.2. Confidentiality Obligations

No information or document under confidentiality or restriction may be submitted. Any statement indicating confidentiality can be disregarded.

5.3. Rights Granted by Contributors to the Gimel Foundation

To the extent protected by copyright or authorship rights, the Contributor and each named co-Contributor grant a perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, sublicensable right and license to the Foundation:

to copy, publish, display, and distribute the Contribution, in whole or in part,
to prepare and distribute translations,
to modify or prepare derivative works, unless explicitly disallowed in the Contribution,
to reproduce trademarks or marks solely in connection with reproduction, distribution, or publication of the Contribution and permitted derivative works.

5.4. Sublicenses by the Gimel Foundation

The Foundation may sublicense the rights granted to it, and may grant additional sublicenses according to its own legal terms.

5.5. Representations and Warranties

With respect to each Contribution, each Contributor represents that, to the best of their knowledge and ability:

The Contribution properly acknowledges all Contributors, including Indirect Contributors.
No information in the Contribution is confidential, and the Foundation and its affiliates may freely disclose any information in the Contribution.
There are no limits to the Contributor’s ability to make the grants and agreements herein, reasonably and personally known to the Contributor.
The Contribution does not include material that is defamatory, untrue, or illegal under the relevant jurisdiction.
All trademarks, trade names, service marks, and other proprietary names used in the Contribution are clearly designated as such where reasonable.

5.6. No Duty to Publish

The Contributor acknowledges that the Foundation has no duty to publish, use, or disseminate any Contribution, and may withdraw or cease using any Contribution that does not comply with the requirements of this document.

5.7. Trademarks

Contributors who claim trademark rights in terms used in their Contributions are requested to state the specific conditions for implementation of such trademarks.

5.8. Copyright in Foundation Documents

Subject to each Contributor’s ownership of their underlying Contributions and the licenses granted, copyright in any Foundation Document shall be owned by the Foundation. Submission constitutes assignment of copyright interest in the collective work constituting such Foundation Document to the Foundation, and a copyright notice acknowledging Foundation ownership shall be included.

5.9. Contributors’ Retention of Rights

Although Contributors provide specific rights to the Foundation, it is not intended to deprive them of their right to exploit their Contributions. The Foundation will issue a license or assurance to Contributors confirming that they may make use of their Contributions as published in Foundation Documents in any way they wish, except that no Contributor has the right to represent any document as an official Foundation Document unless it is a full and complete copy or translation of the published document.

6. Legends, Notices and Other Standardized Text in Foundation Documents

The Foundation requires certain standardized text to be reproduced verbatim in Foundation Documents (including copies, derivative works, and translations). Some of this text may be mandatory (e.g., copyright notices and disclaimers) and some may be optional (e.g., limitations on the right to make derivative works or Exclusions). The text and rules for its usage are included in the Legend Instructions and may be updated from time to time.

7. Security Considerations

This memo relates to Foundation processes, not any technology. There are no known security issues with Contribution rights policies.