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Pandorabots Legal FAQ

This FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) list is a work in progress - if you have any comments or suggestions for questions to include, please send e-mail to legal@pandorabots.com with the words “Legal FAQ” somewhere in the subject line. This FAQ is not intended to provide you with legal advice, and we urge you to seek advice from your legal counsel should you have further questions.

A. Pandorabots Terms of Service

a.1 Who owns the content of pandorabots I publish on Pandorabots?

You retain the copyright (and ownership) to all the content you create and publish on Pandorabots.

a.2 I have created a pandorabot using a combination of my own content and content from other sources. How does ownership work in this case?

In general, you retain the copyright to your authored content. When you publish a pandorabot including other sources of content, you retain copyright to only the portion of the content you create, while authors of the other included content separately retain their copyright in that content. Thus, you will want to check to ensure that you comply with any conditions imposed by the copyright holders of such content before including it in your pandorabot.

a.3 As in the previous question I have created a pandorabot using a combination of my own content and content from other sources. Assuming that I have obtained permission from the owners of the other sources, can I now declare I own this pandorabot?

You may only claim copyright to the portion of the pandorabot you created. Ownership means only that you retain a copyright to only the portions you created. You may describe the pandorabot as owned by you only when the entire pandorabot was created by you.

a.4 Who owns the input sentences typed by a client?

In general, the client retains a copyright to anything they author. So copyright to the input sentences is retained by the client. By using the Pandorabots service, the client grants Pandorabots a non-exclusive license to these sentences for purposes of enhancing Pandorabots.

a.5 Who owns the output sentences typed by a pandorabot?

In general, the author of the pandorabot retains a copyright to anything they create. So copyright to the output sentences is retained by the pandorabot author. Since most pandorabots rely on a variety of sources for AIML and output sentences, the individual authors retain copyright to these other sources.

a.6 Given that there are so many sources of AIML and output sentences, how can one easily obtain licenses to these sources?

With a few exceptions most authors have granted Pandorabots non-exclusive licenses permitting the transfer and reuse of their sources within in the Pandorabots community.

Other authors have licensed content subject to a GPL license. You may freely use such content, however by doing so, you agree to also license ALL of your content to others using the same license. Content owners may choose to offer the same content with different licenses (e.g. under a GPL License and simultaneously under other licenses). So if you want terms other than a GPL license you may approach the content owners directly and negotiate a separate license.

a.7 What are my alternatives should I choose to license my content?

We recommend you seek the advice of legal counsel and carefully study the alternatives. That said we offer a short summary of two of the most common licenses.

By using a GPL license you participate in a community of users each contributing toward an increase in the types of content (and AIML) that may be used to develop chatbots. Another alternative is often referred to as the MIT Open Source License. Under the GPL anyone incorporating any GPL-licensed content must license their own content under the same license. When you incorporate content subject to the terms of the MIT Open Source License, you may choose to relicense your code under that license (or any other license) but you are not obligated to relicense your content. Again, we recommend you seek the advice of your legal counsel.

a.8 What rights does Pandorabots retain?

Your use of Pandorabots is governed by the Pandorabots Terms of Service. We recommend you study paragraph 11 of this agreement carefully.

a.9 I’ve studied paragraph 11 and it seems to grant Pandorabots sufficient rights to simply copy my pandorabot? Have I read it correctly?

To host your pandorabot we rely on your permission to copy your pandorabot as we deem necessary to provide our services.

a.10 I’ve studied paragraph 11, and I have a question. What happens if someone creates a clone of my pandorabot?

You retain the copyright in your created content. In particular you retain copyright to your pandorabot’s output sentences. Most people understand the content of their pandorabot to be the same as the collection of their authored sentences that might be emitted by their pandorabot. With very little effort someone could create a program capable of automatically recording your pandorabot’s content. Since you retain your copyright, you would have the right to pursue legal action against such a person.

a.11 I’ve studied paragraph 11, and I have a question. Can I understand Pandorabots owns my content?

You retain the copyright in your created content. In particular you retain copyright to your pandorabot’s output sentences. Most people understand the content of their pandorabot to be the same as the collection of their authored sentences that might be emitted by their pandorabot.

While this description works for most cases, technically your content emerges through the deployment of a collection of Pandorabots’ programs coupled with data you provide, including (but not limited to) your authored output sentences (the “Printed Representation of the Output Sentences”), the AIML language, the AIML interpreter, Pandorabots supplied AIML content (“AIML code”), modifications of supplied Pandorabots AIML ((“AIML code”) (sometimes authored by others but licensed by Pandorabots), along with a number of other Pandorabots’ tools, data, hosting facilities and utilities.

As part of our services we provide you with programs, tools, an AIML interpreter, AIML code, data, hosting facilities and utilities that create the AIML subset of the XML specification automatically. When you create content (what you typically think of as your output sentences) technically you are using our services to automatically create an AIML program. By using our services you grant us a limited license (see section 11.1 of Pandorabots Terms of Service) to the AIML you create with our services. We may reuse this AIML to promote our services subject to the limited license granted in paragraph 11.1. Our interest in your content (technically - the “Printed Representation of the Output Sentences” part of the automatically generated AIML program) is limited by the aforementioned paragraph 11.

You may contact us at legal@pandorabots.com if you have further questions or concerns.

Last update:

Feb 07, 2010