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2026

Unicode License Agreement - Data Files and Software (2016)

Also known as Unicode Data Files and Software License 2016, Unicode License Agreement - Data Files and Software (2016), Unicode-DFS-2016.

Commercial use
allowed
Share alike
not required
Attribution
required (keep the copyright and license notices)
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Write this as a license text (needs an account) DALICC reads the model above and writes what it permits, requires and prohibits in plain English. Without an account, the Text download above writes the model out from the vocabulary.

Canonical URI https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/Unicode-DFS-2016

Permissions

  • Change license by library convention Library convention: family rule 15: Permissive records permit relicensing. Replacing the license of the work, or of an adaptation, with another license, or changing its terms.

    Duties

    • Use a compliant license by library convention Library convention: family rule 15: Permissive records permit relicensing. Choosing a replacement license that stays compliant with the terms of the original license.
  • Charge distribution fee from the text Charging a fee for the act of providing a copy of the work to someone else.
  • Commercial use from the text Using the work to generate income, directly or indirectly, for example by selling it or by using it in advertising.
  • Derivative works from the text Distributing an adaptation of the work and making it available to the public.
  • Derive from the text Creating a new work from the work, such as a translation, adaptation or arrangement of it or of a part of it.

    Duties

    • Attribution from the text Giving credit to the copyright holders or authors of the work, in the form the licensor asks for.
    • Notice from the text Notice: keeping the license and copyright notices with every copy.
  • Display from the text Showing the work to the public without making a copy the viewer keeps.
  • Distribute from the text Providing copies of the work to the public or to anyone else.

    Duties

    • Attribution from the text Giving credit to the copyright holders or authors of the work, in the form the licensor asks for.
    • Notice from the text Notice: keeping the license and copyright notices with every copy.
  • Grant use from the text Granting third parties the right to use the work.
  • Modified works from the text Distributing a modified version of the work that does not amount to a new, derivative work.
  • Modify from the text Altering the work, for example by updating it, without creating a new work; an alteration that creates a new work is Derive.

    Duties

    • Attribution from the text Giving credit to the copyright holders or authors of the work, in the form the licensor asks for.
    • Notice from the text Notice: keeping the license and copyright notices with every copy.
  • Present from the text Performing the work in public, including by broadcast or other communication to the public.
  • Reproduce from the text Making copies of the work in any form.

Prohibitions

  • Promote from the text Not permitted: Promote. The text says: "Except as contained in this notice, the name of a copyright holder shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or other dealings in these Data Files or Software without prior written authorization of the copyright holder." Using the name or trademarks of the licensor or of contributors to endorse or promote a product.

License-wide duties

This license states no duties that apply to the work as a whole.

What applies by default

The statements above are the library's reading of this license: each is marked with the sentence it rests on, or as a library convention where the text is not explicit. The statements below are the ones the DALICC reasoner supplies for acts the license says nothing about, from the default rules of the dependency graph it reasons with. Each one names the legal source it rests on. None of it is in the record.

No default rule of that graph reaches this license: it speaks about every act the rules are about.

Clauses

Warranty disclaimer

THE DATA FILES AND SOFTWARE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS.

Limitation of liability

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR HOLDERS INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, OR ANY SPECIAL INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE DATA FILES OR SOFTWARE.

Additional clauses

Unicode Data Files include all data files under the directories http://www.unicode.org/Public/, http://www.unicode.org/reports/, http://www.unicode.org/cldr/data/, http://source.icu-project.org/repos/icu/, and http://www.unicode.org/utility/trac/browser/. Unicode Data Files do not include PDF online code charts under the directory http://www.unicode.org/Public/. Software includes any source code published in the Unicode Standard or under the directories http://www.unicode.org/Public/, http://www.unicode.org/reports/, http://www.unicode.org/cldr/data/, http://source.icu-project.org/repos/icu/, and http://www.unicode.org/utility/trac/browser/. NOTICE TO USER: Carefully read the following legal agreement. BY DOWNLOADING, INSTALLING, COPYING OR OTHERWISE USING UNICODE INC.'S DATA FILES ("DATA FILES"), AND/OR SOFTWARE ("SOFTWARE"), YOU UNEQUIVOCALLY ACCEPT, AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY, ALL OF THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT DOWNLOAD, INSTALL, COPY, DISTRIBUTE OR USE THE DATA FILES OR SOFTWARE. Except as contained in this notice, the name of a copyright holder shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or other dealings in these Data Files or Software without prior written authorization of the copyright holder.

Info

Target asset types
Dataset, Software
Region / jurisdiction
Worldwide
Validity
Perpetual
Source
https://spdx.org/licenses/Unicode-DFS-2016.html
Legal code
http://www.unicode.org/copyright.html
This description is published under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Publisher
Unicode, Inc.
Attribution name
Unicode, Inc.
SPDX identifier
Unicode-DFS-2016 on the SPDX license list
DALICC identifier
Unicode-DFS-2016

This record is published under CC BY 4.0. Credit it as: DALICC License Library, DALICC - Verein zur Förderung der Rechtssicherheit in der Datenbewirtschaftung, https://dalicc.net, CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The license it describes belongs to its publisher.

Use this license

Everything below is generated from this record. Replace the example address with the address of your own work.

JSON sidecar 

{
  "license-uri": "https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/Unicode-DFS-2016",
  "license-title": "Unicode License Agreement - Data Files and Software (2016)",
  "spdx-id": "Unicode-DFS-2016",
  "attribution": "Copyright (c) [year] [copyright holder]",
  "asset": null,
  "generated-by": "DALICC"
}

RDF, Turtle 

@prefix cc: <http://creativecommons.org/ns#> .

<https://example.org/my-work>
    cc:license <https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/Unicode-DFS-2016> .

RDF, JSON-LD 

{
  "@context": {
    "cc": "http://creativecommons.org/ns#"
  },
  "@id": "https://example.org/my-work",
  "cc:license": {
    "@id": "https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/Unicode-DFS-2016"
  }
}

HTML attribution 

<p>This work is licensed under <a href="https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/Unicode-DFS-2016" rel="license">Unicode License Agreement - Data Files and Software (2016)</a>.</p>

This license asks for attribution, so the credit line is part of it.

Badge DALICC badge for Unicode License Agreement - Data Files and Software (2016)

Markdown 

[![License: Unicode License Agreement - Data Files and Software (2016)](https://dalicc.net/license-library/Unicode-DFS-2016/badge.svg)](https://dalicc.net/license-library/Unicode-DFS-2016)

HTML 

<a href="https://dalicc.net/license-library/Unicode-DFS-2016"><img src="https://dalicc.net/license-library/Unicode-DFS-2016/badge.svg" alt="License: Unicode License Agreement - Data Files and Software (2016)"></a>

Review

Written from the license text by
Giray Havur
Written on
2026-09-15
Second review
not yet done
Record changed since this review
yes (version 2, 2026-09-24)
Findings
9 recorded, 8 applied to the record, 0 proposed

Models the 2016 Unicode licence agreement for data files and software, which Unicode License v3 replaced in 2024. The grant is the same MIT style grant as in v3; what this text adds is the list of directories whose contents count as Data Files and as Software. Nothing here is legal advice.

9 findings

  • minor Rubric 2 odrl:target applied

    The agreement defines Data Files by the directories they live in and Software as "any source code published in the Unicode Standard or under the directories" it lists, so the asset collection carries dcmitype:Dataset next to dcmitype:Software.

  • major Rubric 3 odrl:permission applied

    The grant reads "Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of the Unicode data files and any associated documentation ... to deal in the Data Files or Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, and/or sell copies ... and to permit persons to whom the Data Files or Software are furnished to do so", which is the same grant as Unicode-3.0 and the same permission set.

  • major Rubric 4 odrl:prohibition applied

    The closing sentence bars use of a copyright holder's name "in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or other dealings in these Data Files or Software", modelled as a dalicc:promote prohibition.

  • minor Rubric 5 odrl:duty applied

    The condition is the same two-limbed notice requirement as in Unicode-3.0, so cc:Attribution and cc:Notice hang off odrl:distribute, odrl:modify and odrl:derive.

  • major Rubric 6 dalicc:additionalClauses applied

    The scope paragraphs, which are the substantive difference from the 2023 text, are quoted in full, together with the acceptance notice and the advertising sentence. The 2016 text runs the warranty and liability sentences into one paragraph; this record splits them at the sentence boundary into dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer and dalicc:LiabilityLimitation.

  • info Rubric 7 cc:jurisdiction applied

    The text names no legal system and sets no term, so cc:jurisdiction is dalicc:worldwide and dalicc:validityType is dalicc:perpetual.

  • info Rubric 9 record none

    The consistency check of app.services.composer with the dependency graph dg_default returned an empty conflict list.

  • major Rubric 10 record applied

    Modelled together with Unicode-3.0 and deliberately given the same deontic model, so that a consumer who moves from the 2016 agreement to v3 sees no change in the compatibility answers, which is correct: the grant did not change.

  • major Rubric 3 odrl:permission applied

    Library convention 15: a licence that asks for no reciprocity and no source code asks only that the notice travels with the copy, which is a duty on the acts it governs and not a bar on putting the copy under other terms. dalicc:ChangeLicense is therefore a permission here, and the prohibition the earlier reading wrote is removed. The text reads: "Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of the Unicode data files and any associated documentation (the "Data Files") or Unicode software and any associated documentation (the "Software") to deal in the Data Files or Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, and/or sell copies." The permission carries the dalicc:compliantLicense duty, as Apache-2.0 does, because the notice has to survive the relicensing.

Report an issue The review record as JSON The review checks the model against the license text. It is not legal advice.

History

This license model 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 changes since version 1 recorded which sentence of the text each statement rests on and named the license the record itself is published under.

    View JSON-LD Turtle RDF/XML

    3 changes

    • changed permission dalicc:ChangeLicense with duties [dalicc:compliantLicense]

      was permission dalicc:ChangeLicense with duties [dalicc:compliantLicense]

      Manual edit The statement is marked as a library convention, family rule 15: Permissive records permit relicensing: the text does not state it in as many words. Its duty dalicc:compliantLicense is marked as a library convention, family rule 15: Permissive records permit relicensing.

    • changed prohibition dalicc:promote

      was prohibition dalicc:promote

      Manual edit The statement now quotes the sentence of the licence text it rests on: "Except as contained in this notice, the name of a copyright holder shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or other dealings in these Data Files or Software without prior written authorization of the copyright holder."

    • added dct:license <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/>

      Manual edit Every record is published under CC BY 4.0. cc:license names the record DALICC keeps of that licence; dct:license now names it by the address Creative Commons publishes it at, so that a consumer matching the canonical IRI finds it.

  2. Version 1

    Created from the license text on 2026-09-15 (Python, PHP, Unicode and W3C).

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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.

Nothing on this page is legal advice. What a license means is decided by its text; ask a legal advisor before you rely on it.