KOS Protocol — License

Copyright (c) 2026 Niseus Authority Systems (niseus.com)
All rights reserved.


SPECIFICATION LICENSE (PROTOCOL.md, GENERATOR.md, generator.json)

The KOS Protocol specification is made available under the following terms:

1. OPEN IMPLEMENTATION. Anyone may create, publish, validate, and consume
   kos.json files conforming to this specification without license fee or
   royalty. No permission is required to implement the protocol.

2. REQUIRED ATTRIBUTION. Any publication, tool, service, or documentation
   that references the KOS Protocol specification MUST include attribution
   to Niseus Authority Systems as the creator. The following notice is
   sufficient:

     "KOS Protocol is an open specification created by
      Niseus Authority Systems (kosprotocol.dev)"

3. NO MODIFICATION OF SPECIFICATION. The specification text (PROTOCOL.md)
   may be reproduced in whole for reference purposes with attribution, but
   MUST NOT be modified and republished as "KOS Protocol." Modified versions
   must use a different name and clearly state they are derived works.

4. TRADEMARK. "KOS Protocol," "kos.json," and the KOS Protocol logo are
   trademarks of Niseus Authority Systems. Use of these marks to identify
   conforming implementations is permitted. Use of these marks to imply
   endorsement, affiliation, or origin from Niseus without written
   permission is prohibited.


CODE LICENSE (index.html, schema files, HTML pages, tooling)

The code, schemas, validator, and tooling in this repository are released
under the MIT License:

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS 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. IN NO EVENT SHALL
THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR
OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE,
ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR
OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.


NO WARRANTY (applies to both specification and code)

THE KOS PROTOCOL SPECIFICATION AND ALL ASSOCIATED SOFTWARE ARE PROVIDED
"AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. NISEUS AUTHORITY SYSTEMS MAKES NO
WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY, OR
NON-INFRINGEMENT.

IN NO EVENT SHALL NISEUS AUTHORITY SYSTEMS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM,
DAMAGES, OR OTHER LIABILITY ARISING FROM THE USE OF THE SPECIFICATION,
THE PROTOCOL, OR ANY IMPLEMENTATION THEREOF.

Provenance data published via kos.json is self-reported by the publishing
entity. Niseus Authority Systems does not verify, endorse, or guarantee
the accuracy of any kos.json file published by third parties.