DEVELOPMENT VERSION: This is an experimental DALICC environment. Features, data and APIs may change or be reset without notice. A stable version of this service, with a potentially different feature set, will be made available soon at dalicc.net.

2026

Dependency Graph Viewer

Licenses do not conflict because two words differ; they conflict because the actions behind those words relate to each other. The DALICC reasoner reads that relationship from a dependency graph: 46 statements over the ODRL, Creative Commons and DALICC action vocabularies. That is what turns "this license permits odrl:sell" and "that license prohibits odrl:commercialize" into a reported conflict.

How reasoning works walks through what the reasoner does with these statements, step by step. To keep a graph of your own, with the statements you decide, use the Dependency Graph Editor.

Graphs you can reason with

Core graph

Jurisdiction graphs (the core graph plus local default rules)

The core graph is curated by the project, and it is what everybody reasons with. Each jurisdiction graph is complete: it is the core graph with the default rules proposed for one market, and says what it removes or replaces when it does. While you are signed in, your own graphs and the ones shared with you appear here too, drafts included. Any of them can be chosen in the License Composer and the License Compatibility Checker straight away; compare two of them or manage your graphs.

Download as Turtle The same data as JSON Compare graphs The DALICC vocabulary Report an issue

DALICC deontic dependency graph

Named graph https://dalicc.net/dependencygraph/dg_default.

  • odrl:includedIn
  • odrl:implies
  • owl:sameAs
  • dalicc:contradicts

odrl:includedIn 24

Action subsumption, and therefore hierarchical: exercising the subject action is one way of exercising the object action, so a rule that holds for the broader action also holds for the narrower one.
cc:Attribution Attribution odrl:includedIn odrl:use Use
cc:DerivativeWorks Derivative works odrl:includedIn odrl:distribute Distribute
cc:Notice Notice odrl:includedIn odrl:use Use
cc:ShareAlike Share alike odrl:includedIn odrl:use Use
cc:SourceCode Source code odrl:includedIn odrl:use Use
dalicc:chargeLicenseFee Charge license fee odrl:includedIn odrl:transfer Transfer
dalicc:modificationNotice Modification notice odrl:includedIn odrl:AttachPolicy Attach policy
dalicc:ModifiedWorks Modified works odrl:includedIn odrl:distribute Distribute
dalicc:sellCopy Sell copy odrl:includedIn odrl:sell Sell
odrl:copy Copy odrl:includedIn odrl:use Use
odrl:derive Derive odrl:includedIn odrl:use Use
odrl:display Display odrl:includedIn odrl:present Present
odrl:display Display odrl:includedIn odrl:use Use
odrl:distribute Distribute odrl:includedIn odrl:use Use
odrl:ensureExclusivity Ensure exclusivity odrl:includedIn odrl:use Use
odrl:execute Execute odrl:includedIn odrl:use Use
odrl:extract Extract odrl:includedIn odrl:reproduce Reproduce
odrl:extract Extract odrl:includedIn odrl:use Use
odrl:modify Modify odrl:includedIn odrl:use Use
odrl:present Present odrl:includedIn odrl:use Use
odrl:print Print odrl:includedIn odrl:present Present
odrl:print Print odrl:includedIn odrl:use Use
odrl:sell Sell odrl:includedIn odrl:commercialize Commercialize
odrl:sell Sell odrl:includedIn odrl:transfer Transfer

odrl:implies 7

Entailment: permitting the subject action necessarily permits the object action too, so a prohibition of the implied action conflicts with a permission of the implying one.
cc:Attribution Attribution odrl:implies cc:Notice Notice
cc:ShareAlike Share alike odrl:implies cc:SourceCode Source code
dalicc:chargeLicenseFee Charge license fee odrl:implies odrl:commercialize Commercialize
dalicc:chargeLicenseFee Charge license fee odrl:implies odrl:sell Sell
odrl:derive Derive odrl:implies cc:DerivativeWorks Derivative works
odrl:extract Extract odrl:implies cc:SourceCode Source code
odrl:modify Modify odrl:implies cc:SourceCode Source code

owl:sameAs 14

Synonymy: the two actions denote the same act in different vocabularies, so every statement about one is a statement about the other, both ways.
cc:Attribution Attribution owl:sameAs odrl:attribute Attribute
cc:CommercialUse Commercial use owl:sameAs odrl:commercialize Commercialize
cc:Notice Notice owl:sameAs odrl:AttachPolicy Attach policy
cc:ShareAlike Share alike owl:sameAs odrl:shareAlike Share alike (ODRL)
cc:SourceCode Source code owl:sameAs odrl:attachSource Attach source
dalicc:sublicense Sublicense owl:sameAs odrl:grantUse Grant use
odrl:AttachPolicy Attach policy owl:sameAs cc:Notice Notice
odrl:attachSource Attach source owl:sameAs cc:SourceCode Source code
odrl:attribute Attribute owl:sameAs cc:Attribution Attribution
odrl:commercialize Commercialize owl:sameAs cc:CommercialUse Commercial use
odrl:copy Copy owl:sameAs odrl:reproduce Reproduce
odrl:grantUse Grant use owl:sameAs dalicc:sublicense Sublicense
odrl:reproduce Reproduce owl:sameAs odrl:copy Copy
odrl:shareAlike Share alike (ODRL) owl:sameAs cc:ShareAlike Share alike

dalicc:contradicts 1

Mutual exclusion: the two actions cannot both be exercised under one policy, so a permission of one conflicts with a permission of the other.
odrl:ensureExclusivity Ensure exclusivity dalicc:contradicts odrl:commercialize Commercialize

Default rules 1

An axiom above relates two actions. A default rule says what applies to an action a license is silent about, in which territory it holds, and which statute or principle it rests on. A rule marked Adopted takes part in every check that runs under this graph; one marked Proposed is written down for review and reaches only a reader who chose this graph. Nothing stated here is legal advice: what a license means is decided by its text, and what the law of a country requires is decided by that country's courts.

Status
dalicc:promote Promote Not granted by default Worldwide Trademark and name rights are separate from copyright: Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 article 9 lets the proprietor of an EU trade mark prevent all third parties not having his consent from using the sign in the course of trade, and Directive (EU) 2015/2436 article 10, 15 U.S.C. 1114 and 1125(a), section 12 BGB and section 43 ABGB protect marks and names in the same way. The library's evidence is Creative Commons 4.0 section 2(b)(2): Patent and trademark rights are not licensed under this Public License. A copyright licence that is silent grants no right to use the licensor's name or marks to suggest endorsement Adopted Adopted on . Giray Havur, for the association's review, adopted this rule on 2026-09-23.
A licence that says nothing about endorsement is read as not allowing it: the licence gives the licensee no right to use the licensor's name or marks in a way that states or implies that the licensor endorses the licensee or its product, while stating truthfully that a work is based on or uses the licensed work is a different act that this rule does not decide. A copyright licence grants rights in the work, and the right to use a name or a trademark is a separate right under trademark law and the protection of names, which a silent copyright licence does not pass on. Combining a licence that is silent about endorsement with one that permits it shows a conflict marked as coming from this rule.

The same list as JSON: /dependencygraph/rules.

History

The dependency graph has 2 versions. Version 2 is the one served today; every earlier version keeps its own address, so a conclusion drawn from one of them can still be checked against it.

  1. Version 2 current2026-09-24 Giray Havur

    The content review of 2026-09-15 removed the pair of axioms that made a reciprocal license which also grants sublicensing contradict itself, and the reviews that followed related the two names of sublicensing and the commercial-use terms, so the graph holds 46 axioms. The graph also gained its first default rule, which Giray Havur adopted on 2026-09-23: a copyright license that is silent grants no right to endorsement, which refuses only a use that suggests endorsement and cites article 9 of the EU Trade Mark Regulation and section 2(b)(2) of Creative Commons 4.0.

    View Turtle

    22 changes

    • removed cc:ShareAlike dalicc:contradicts odrl:grantUse

      Review decision Review decision 5: passing the same terms on is the normal way to satisfy a share-alike condition, not a contradiction of it.

    • removed odrl:grantUse dalicc:contradicts cc:ShareAlike

      Review decision Review decision 5: passing the same terms on is the normal way to satisfy a share-alike condition, not a contradiction of it.

    • added dalicc:sublicense owl:sameAs odrl:grantUse

      Review decision Open issue 9 of the content review is decided: the two terms denote the same act, so a bundle of a license that forbids sublicensing with one that permits it must report a conflict instead of no conflict.

    • added odrl:grantUse owl:sameAs dalicc:sublicense

      Review decision The inverse spelling, written explicitly because the graph states every owl:sameAs pair in both directions.

    • added cc:CommercialUse owl:sameAs odrl:commercialize

      dependency-graph-review cc:CommercialUse is 'income-generating use of any kind, whether direct or indirect' and odrl:commercialize is 'use the asset in a business environment', the reasoning counterpart of commercial use. 579 statements of the library name the first and none names the second, so the three axioms written about odrl:commercialize reached nothing. A license that permits charging a license fee now meets one that prohibits commercial use.

    • added odrl:commercialize owl:sameAs cc:CommercialUse

      dependency-graph-review The inverse spelling, written explicitly because the graph states every owl:sameAs pair in both directions.

    • added dalicc:sellCopy odrl:includedIn odrl:sell

      dependency-graph-review dalicc:sellCopy is 'the Assignee may sell the copies of the License Material' and odrl:sell is 'trade the asset for consideration', so selling copies is one way of selling. Through odrl:sell odrl:includedIn odrl:commercialize a prohibition of commercial use now reaches it.

    • added cc:DerivativeWorks odrl:includedIn odrl:distribute

      dependency-graph-review cc:DerivativeWorks is 'to distribute the derivative and making it available to the public', which is one kind of odrl:distribute, 'providing the work to the public or making it accessible to anyone else'. A license that forbids distribution now meets one that permits publishing a derivative.

    • added dalicc:ModifiedWorks odrl:includedIn odrl:distribute

      dependency-graph-review dalicc:ModifiedWorks is 'distributing a modified version of the work and making it available to the public', the counterpart of cc:DerivativeWorks for alterations that do not amount to a new work, and it is distribution for the same reason.

    • added odrl:AttachPolicy owl:sameAs cc:Notice

      dependency-graph-review The inverse of cc:Notice owl:sameAs odrl:AttachPolicy. The graph states every owl:sameAs pair in both directions; three pairs did not, and now every one of them does.

    • added odrl:attachSource owl:sameAs cc:SourceCode

      dependency-graph-review The inverse of cc:SourceCode owl:sameAs odrl:attachSource, for the same reason.

    • added odrl:shareAlike owl:sameAs cc:ShareAlike

      dependency-graph-review The inverse of cc:ShareAlike owl:sameAs odrl:shareAlike, for the same reason.

    • removed odrl:extract owl:sameAs odrl:copy

      dependency-graph-review odrl:extract is 'extract part of the asset', which the term's own definition places inside odrl:reproduce rather than beside it. Calling it the same act as odrl:copy put extract, copy and reproduce in one equivalence class, so permitting the extraction of a part permitted copying the whole. odrl:extract odrl:includedIn odrl:reproduce carries the conclusions that do hold.

    • removed odrl:reproduce odrl:includedIn odrl:copy

      dependency-graph-review odrl:copy owl:sameAs odrl:reproduce already says the two names denote one act, so a subsumption between them states nothing and shows the pair twice with two different readings.

    • removed odrl:display odrl:includedIn odrl:play

      dependency-graph-review odrl:display is 'create a static and transient rendition of the work' and odrl:play is 'render the asset in an audio or video form'. A static rendition is not an audio or video one, so displaying is not a kind of playing. Both remain kinds of odrl:present.

    • added rule dalicc:promote dalicc:NotGrantedByDefault in dalicc:worldwide

      dependency-graph-review Open proposal 1 of the licence review: dalicc:promote was prohibited on 519 of 581 records although the GNU texts and the older Creative Commons texts say nothing about endorsement. The prohibition was a house convention resting on a legal default, so it belongs in the rule layer and not in the records. Basis: trademark law and the protection of names, under which a copyright licence that is silent grants no right to endorsement. Status: adopted, so a check that chooses nothing reads a silent licence exactly as it read a record that carried the prohibition.

    • added the graphs dg_eu, dg_us, dg_cn, dg_gb, dg_jp, dg_in and dg_br

      dependency-graph-review The review considered the seven largest markets and proposed default rules for each. Each graph holds the default rules proposed for one of them, names this graph with dalicc:extendsGraph so the axioms stay written once, and carries only proposals, so nothing in it reaches a reader who chooses nothing. Every rule names the statute or the principle it rests on, and nothing in any of them is legal advice.

    • changed rule dalicc:promote dalicc:NotGrantedByDefault in dalicc:worldwide

      was rule dalicc:promote dalicc:NotGrantedByDefault in dalicc:worldwide, with no dalicc:ruleExplanation

      dependency-graph-review A citation alone does not say what a rule does. dalicc:ruleExplanation, a term the vocabulary gained for it, now says what the rule does to a silent licence, why trademark law and the protection of names lead there, and what a person combining licences will notice.

    • changed the graphs dg_eu, dg_us, dg_cn, dg_gb, dg_jp, dg_in and dg_br are generated from this graph

      was the graphs dg_eu, dg_us, dg_cn, dg_gb, dg_jp, dg_in and dg_br name this graph with dalicc:extendsGraph

      dependency-graph-review Every graph under Graphs you can reason with reads like a complete graph, and a jurisdiction whose law does not agree with the core graph had no way to say so. Each jurisdiction graph now holds the 46 axioms and this rule itself, is built by scripts/build_dependency_graphs.py from this file and its difference file, and can remove an axiom or replace a rule with a legal reason. The reasoner reads one graph and follows no link.

    • changed rule dalicc:promote dalicc:NotGrantedByDefault in dalicc:worldwide, with dalicc:ruleBasis citing Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 article 9 and Creative Commons 4.0 section 2(b)(2)

      was rule dalicc:promote dalicc:NotGrantedByDefault in dalicc:worldwide, with dalicc:ruleBasis: trademark law and the protection of names: a copyright licence that is silent grants no right to endorsement

      dependency-graph-review The rule was the only adopted one and cited no source a lawyer could check. Trademark and endorsement rights are separate from copyright: the EU Trade Mark Regulation gives the proprietor the right to prevent use of the sign without consent, and the Creative Commons 4.0 licences, which the library models, say in section 2(b)(2) that patent and trademark rights are not licensed under them.

    • changed rule dalicc:promote dalicc:NotGrantedByDefault in dalicc:worldwide, with a dalicc:ruleExplanation that refuses only a use suggesting endorsement

      was rule dalicc:promote dalicc:NotGrantedByDefault in dalicc:worldwide, with a dalicc:ruleExplanation that said the licensee may not use the name or the marks of the licensor to promote a product

      dependency-graph-review Descriptive or referential use of a name, such as saying truthfully that a product is based on or compatible with the licensed work, is generally lawful; the legal limit is a use that states or implies endorsement or origin.

    • added rule dalicc:promote dalicc:NotGrantedByDefault in dalicc:worldwide: dct:contributor "Giray Havur, for the association's review, adopted this rule on 2026-09-23"; dct:dateAccepted 2026-09-23

      dependency-graph-review A lawyer reading the graph could not tell who adopted the rule. The vocabulary has no reviewer property for rules, so the rule names its reviewer with dct:contributor and the date of adoption, which the version 2 entry of this log records, with dct:dateAccepted.

  2. Version 1

    The version this model had before the content review of 2026-09-15.

    View Turtle

Every change names the reason behind it: a finding of the content review, one of its library-wide decisions, the metadata that review wrote onto every record, or a hand edit. None of it is legal advice.