.. _licensing_policy: ================ Licensing Policy ================ Our vision ========== The goal of openEPDA is to facilitate data exchange between the tools and parties involved in the PIC design. This is done by standardizing the data exchange in the field of Electronic-Photonic Design Automation (EPDA), which improves tool interoperability and traceability of data. Essentially, openEPDA consists of two parts: standard specifications and a reference implementation. In order to fulfil our main goal, the provided standards are open, accessible to anyone and royalty-free. Our vision coincides with that of the Free Software Foundation Europe on `open standards `_. In the `python package `_, we aim to provide validators for the data files and reference implementations of the data readers/writers. Validation is done using `JSON Schema `_ and custom code on top of it when needed. The name openEPDA is trademarked. This is done to ensure that the name cannot be misused and that the data under this name is compliant with the published standards. License terms ============= The openEPDA standards specification can be freely used and distributed in its original form under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license. It allows free use of the standards, including for commercial purposes, such as: - (de-)serialization of data represented with the openEPDA formats; - creation of readers / writers / converters to and from the openEPDA formats. When using the openEPDA data formats, credit to openEDPA.org must be provided. The license allows others to modify the content of the openEPDA standard specifications as long as they credit openEPDA and license their new creations under the identical terms. More on the license can be found at ``_. Governance body =============== After the first standard drafts are finalized, we will set up a governance body with stakeholders. This will ensure the standards development and evolution. Currently, the openEPDA is jointly governed by TU/e, Bright Photonics and Smart Photonics.