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2026

W3C Software and Document Notice and License

Also known as W3C License.

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/W3cSoftwareAndDocumentNoticeAndLicense

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.
  • 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.
    • Modification notice from the text Marking a changed work as changed, saying how it differs from the original and keeping earlier notices of change.
    • 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.
  • 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.
    • Modification notice from the text Marking a changed work as changed, saying how it differs from the original and keeping earlier notices of change.
    • 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

  • Charge distribution fee from the text Not permitted: Charge distribution fee. Charging a fee for the act of providing a copy of the work to someone else.
  • Promote from the text Not permitted: Promote. The text says: "The name and trademarks of copyright holders may NOT be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to the work without specific, written prior permission." 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

THIS WORK IS PROVIDED "AS IS," AND COPYRIGHT HOLDERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THAT THE USE OF THE SOFTWARE OR DOCUMENT WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY THIRD PARTY PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, TRADEMARKS OR OTHER RIGHTS.

Limitation of liability

COPYRIGHT HOLDERS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY USE OF THE SOFTWARE OR DOCUMENT.

Additional clauses

Can be used for commercial purposes but without fee or royalty.

Info

Target asset types
Creative work (i.e. text, picture, sound, movie), Dataset, Software
Region / jurisdiction
Worldwide
Validity
Perpetual
Source
https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/2015/copyright-software-and-document
Legal code
https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/2015/copyright-software-and-document
This description is published under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Publisher
W3C
Attribution name
W3C
SPDX identifier
W3C-20150513 on the SPDX license list
DALICC identifier
W3cSoftwareAndDocumentNoticeAndLicense

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/W3cSoftwareAndDocumentNoticeAndLicense",
  "license-title": "W3C Software and Document Notice and License",
  "spdx-id": "W3C-20150513",
  "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/W3cSoftwareAndDocumentNoticeAndLicense> .

RDF, JSON-LD 

{
  "@context": {
    "cc": "http://creativecommons.org/ns#"
  },
  "@id": "https://example.org/my-work",
  "cc:license": {
    "@id": "https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/W3cSoftwareAndDocumentNoticeAndLicense"
  }
}

HTML attribution 

<p>This work is licensed under <a href="https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/W3cSoftwareAndDocumentNoticeAndLicense" rel="license">W3C Software and Document Notice and License</a>.</p>

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

Badge DALICC badge for W3C Software and Document Notice and License

Markdown 

[![License: W3C Software and Document Notice and License](https://dalicc.net/license-library/W3cSoftwareAndDocumentNoticeAndLicense/badge.svg)](https://dalicc.net/license-library/W3cSoftwareAndDocumentNoticeAndLicense)

HTML 

<a href="https://dalicc.net/license-library/W3cSoftwareAndDocumentNoticeAndLicense"><img src="https://dalicc.net/license-library/W3cSoftwareAndDocumentNoticeAndLicense/badge.svg" alt="License: W3C Software and Document Notice and License"></a>

Review

Status
Reviewed against the license text
Last checked
2026-09-15
Reviewer
Giray Havur
Verdict
corrected during the review
Record changed since this review
yes (version 2, 2026-09-24)
Findings
7 recorded, 4 applied to the record, 3 proposed

This is the 2015 edition of the W3C software and document license, in force between 13 May 2015 and 31 December 2022 and superseded since. It permits copying, modification and distribution for any purpose without fee or royalty, subject to three notices. The record did not permit commercial use, did not carry the trademark restriction, and had no warranty or liability clause. All four were added, with the SPDX id.

7 findings

  • minor Rubric 1 spdx:licenseId applied

    Added W3C-20150513. Verified rather than assumed: cc:legalcode is exactly the URL the SPDX entry lists under seeAlso, and the fetched page states "This license was in effect between 13 May 2015 and 31 December 2022", which is the 2015-05-13 edition SPDX names.

  • major Rubric 3 odrl:permission applied

    The grant reads: "Permission to copy, modify, and distribute this work, with or without modification, for any purpose and without fee or royalty is hereby granted". "For any purpose" includes commercial purposes, and the record's own dalicc:additionalClauses already says so in prose. cc:CommercialUse was not permitted. Added.

  • major Rubric 4 odrl:prohibition applied

    The text states: "The name and trademarks of copyright holders may NOT be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to the work without specific, written prior permission." Added the dalicc:promote prohibition.

  • minor Rubric 6 dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer applied

    The two paragraphs under "Disclaimers" were not recorded. Added both, quoted.

  • minor Rubric 6 dalicc:additionalClauses proposed

    The stored clause, "Can be used for commercial purposes but without fee or royalty.", is a paraphrase, not a quotation, which rubric 6 asks to avoid. The sentence it paraphrases is the grant itself.

  • minor Rubric 4 odrl:prohibition proposed

    dalicc:chargeDistributionFee is prohibited, which the phrase "without fee or royalty" supports. dalicc:chargeLicenseFee should be prohibited for the same reason and is not. dalicc:ChangeLicense is prohibited although the text imposes only the three notice conditions.

  • info Rubric 1 dct:title proposed

    The record does not say which edition it models. Since the 2015 text is superseded by the 2023 version, a dct:hasVersion or an edition note would stop the record from silently ageing.

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 content review of 2026-09-15 added 2 clause texts, 1 identification detail, 1 permission and 1 prohibition, recorded the relation to the record this one was adapted from and recorded the review state. Later changes permitted relicensing with the notice as a duty, recorded which sentence of the text each statement rests on and named the license the record itself is published under.

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    13 changes

    • added dalicc:LiabilityLimitation "COPYRIGHT HOLDERS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY USE OF THE SOFTWARE OR DOCUMENT."

      Review finding The two paragraphs under "Disclaimers" were not recorded. Added both, quoted.

    • added dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer "THIS WORK IS PROVIDED \"AS IS,\" AND COPYRIGHT HOLDERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THAT THE USE OF THE SOFTWARE OR DOCUMENT WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY THIRD PARTY PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, TRADEMARKS OR OTHER RIGHTS."

      Review finding The two paragraphs under "Disclaimers" were not recorded. Added both, quoted.

    • added dalicc:reviewStatus dalicc:Reviewed

      Review state Every record records how far it has come in the editorial workflow and when it was last checked against the legal text.

    • added dalicc:reviewedOn "2026-09-15"^^xsd:date

      Review state Every record records how far it has come in the editorial workflow and when it was last checked against the legal text.

    • added dalicc:variantKind "edition"

      Port relation The 2026-09-15 review made the relation between a jurisdiction port and the record it was adapted from explicit in the data.

    • added permission cc:CommercialUse

      Review finding The grant reads: "Permission to copy, modify, and distribute this work, with or without modification, for any purpose and without fee or royalty is hereby granted". "For any purpose" includes commercial purposes, and the record's own dalicc:additionalClauses already says so in prose. cc:CommercialUse was not permitted. Added.

    • added prohibition dalicc:promote

      Review finding The text states: "The name and trademarks of copyright holders may NOT be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to the work without specific, written prior permission." Added the dalicc:promote prohibition.

    • added spdx:licenseId "W3C-20150513"

      Review finding Added W3C-20150513. Verified rather than assumed: cc:legalcode is exactly the URL the SPDX entry lists under seeAlso, and the fetched page states "This license was in effect between 13 May 2015 and 31 December 2022", which is the 2015-05-13 edition SPDX names.

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

      Manual edit Permit relicensing on permissive licences; the notice clause is a duty, not a bar. 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 record carried before is removed. The text reads: "Permission to copy, modify, and distribute this work, with or without modification, for any purpose and without fee or royalty is hereby granted, provided that you include the following on ALL copies of the work or portions thereof, including modifications: The full text of this NOTICE in a location viewable to users of the redistributed or derivative work." The permission carries the dalicc:compliantLicense duty, as Apache-2.0 does, because the notice has to survive the relicensing.

    • removed prohibition dalicc:ChangeLicense

      Manual edit Permit relicensing on permissive licences; the notice clause is a duty, not a bar. 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 record carried before is removed. The text reads: "Permission to copy, modify, and distribute this work, with or without modification, for any purpose and without fee or royalty is hereby granted, provided that you include the following on ALL copies of the work or portions thereof, including modifications: The full text of this NOTICE in a location viewable to users of the redistributed or derivative work." The permission carries the dalicc:compliantLicense duty, as Apache-2.0 does, because the notice has to survive the relicensing.

    • 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: "The name and trademarks of copyright holders may NOT be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to the work without specific, written prior permission."

    • 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

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

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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.