Understanding the Design Science License

The All About Circuits e-book is published under the terms and conditions of the Design Science License (DSL) which outlines how the material may be used, including how the material may be copied, distributed, and modified.

The conditions are generally clear and concise, however from time to time there is confusion about how the material may be used, particularly for use in derivatives works.

Section 3 of the DSL details the conditions for copying and distribution of the material:

Design Science License said:

Permission is granted to distribute, publish or otherwise present verbatim copies of the entire Source Data of the Work, in any medium, provided that full copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty, where applicable, is conspicuously published on all copies, and a copy of this License is distributed along with the Work.

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Therefore you are free to use and distribute the material, provided that the full DSL notice is distributed accordingly and that the origin of the material is not misrepresented.

Furthermore, section 3 details that there are no financial restrictions on the use of the work, provided it adheres to the DSL conditions:

Design Science License said:

You may copy and distribute the Work either gratis or for a fee, and if desired, you may offer warranty protection for the Work.

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We must also note the conditions imposed by Section 4 of the DSL on modifications to the work to create derivative works:

Design Science License said:

Permission is granted to modify or sample from a copy of the Work, producing a derivative work, and to distribute the derivative work under the terms described in the section for distribution above, provided that the following terms are met:

(a) The new, derivative work is published under the terms of this License.

(b) The derivative work is given a new name, so that its name or title can not be confused with the Work, or with a version of the Work, in any way.

(c) Appropriate authorship credit is given: for the differences between the Work and the new derivative work, authorship is attributed to you, while the material sampled or used from the Work remains attributed to the original Author; appropriate notice must be included with the new work indicating the nature and the dates of any modifications of the Work made by you.

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Therefore, you are able to copy, modify, redistribute and charge for use of the material, provided the original source is not misrepresented. There should also be a copy of the DSL accompanying the derivative work to acknowledge the work of the original authors published here at All About Circuits and at ibiblio.org.

Please note section 6 of the DSL on the terms of acceptance:

Design Science License said:

Copying, distributing or modifying the Work (including but not limited to sampling from the Work in a new work) indicates acceptance of these terms. If you do not follow the terms of this License, any rights granted to you by the License are null and void. The copying, distribution or modification of the Work outside of the terms described in this License is expressly prohibited by law.

If for any reason, conditions are imposed on you that forbid you to fulfill the conditions of this License, you may not copy, distribute or modify the Work at all.

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Therefore use of the material presented here at All About Circuits, in any form, is an acknowledgement of your acceptance of the terms and conditions imposed by the DSL on the work. A link to a locally stored copy of the DSL is located at the bottom of every page in the e-book.

If you have any further questions about using the material here at All About Circuits, or you want clarification on other aspects of the DSL, then please post in the Feedback and Suggestions Forum and a site administrator or e-book co-ordinator will offer some advice.

Dave