LICENSE

# 📄 Preponderous Non-Commercial License (Preponderous-NC)

**Version 1.0**  
**Copyright © 2022–2025 Daniel McCoy Stephenson. All rights reserved.**

> **Disclaimer:** *Preponderous Software is not a legal entity.*  
> All rights to works published under this license are reserved by the copyright holder, **Daniel McCoy Stephenson**.

Full license text (canonical source):  
[https://github.com/Preponderous-Software/preponderous-nc-license/blob/main/LICENSE.md](https://github.com/Preponderous-Software/preponderous-nc-license/blob/main/LICENSE.md)

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## ⚖️ License Summary

The **Preponderous Non-Commercial License (Preponderous-NC)** is a custom, source-available license inspired by:

- [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 (CC BY-NC 4.0)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)
- [Business Source License 1.1 (BSL 1.1)](https://mariadb.com/bsl11/)

It is **not OSI-approved** and is designed specifically for software projects maintained by **Preponderous Software**. It permits **non-commercial use**, **modification**, and **self-hosting**, but **prohibits monetization and commercial redistribution** without a valid commercial license.

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## 1. Definitions

- **Software**: Any source code, assets, binaries, or documentation provided in this repository.  
- **Author**: Daniel McCoy Stephenson, sole copyright holder.  
- **Non-Commercial Use**: Use that does not generate revenue or financial compensation, directly or indirectly.  
- **Commercial Use**: Use involving sales, paid services, advertising, premium content, SaaS deployments, or bundled resale.  
- **Self-Hosting**: Running the Software privately without public monetization, and with authentication and licensing mechanisms intact.  
- **Authentication Layer**: Enforcement mechanism provided by the [`UserAuth`](https://github.com/Preponderous-Software/userauth) service or equivalent.

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## 2. Grant of Rights

Permission is granted to:

- Use, study, and modify the Software for **non-commercial** purposes.  
- Self-host the Software for **personal**, **educational**, or **research** use.  
- Retain and adapt the Software locally, as long as all required notices remain intact.  

Provided that:

- The Software is not used in any **commercial**, **advertising**, or **for-profit** context.  
- The authentication and access control systems are **not bypassed**, disabled, or reimplemented.  
- Any modified version remains subject to the same restrictions unless a commercial license is granted.

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## 3. Restrictions

You **may not**:

- Use the Software to generate revenue (via ads, subscriptions, or sales)  
- Distribute the Software as part of a paid product or service  
- Remove or modify the access control layer or authentication logic  
- Resell or sublicense the Software or derived works  
- Use the Software in a corporate, enterprise, or government setting without a commercial license  

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## 4. Enforcement

Violations will result in:

- **Immediate termination** of your rights under this license  
- Potential enforcement via **license key invalidation**, **access revocation**, or **DMCA takedown**  
- Legal action if the Software is monetized or redistributed unlawfully  

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## 5. Commercial Licensing

A separate license is available for commercial usage.

To obtain a commercial license, please contact:

**Daniel McCoy Stephenson**  
GitHub: https://github.com/dmccoystephenson  

Licensing terms are negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

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## 6. No Warranty

This Software is provided “as is,” without warranty of any kind. Use at your own risk.

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## 7. SPDX Identifier

For SPDX compliance, use the following identifier:

LicenseRef-Preponderous-NC

See `SPDX_USAGE.md` for integration details.

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## 8. Acknowledgments

This license was created by adapting principles from:

- **Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0**, for non-commercial use enforcement  
- **Business Source License**, for commercial-use restrictions and enforcement structure  

All legal content is original but conceptually aligned with these frameworks.