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Licensing, Terms of Use & Prior Art

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THE SOFTWARE AND ALL ASSOCIATED CRYPTOGRAPHIC, SYMMETRIC CIPHER (encrypt-gib), KEY DERIVATION (KDF), KEYSTONE IDENTITY, ZERO-KNOWLEDGE PROOF (ZKP), HYPERGRAPH STORAGE, BRANCHING, METATEXT, AND SYNCHRONIZATION ALGORITHMS, PROTOCOLS, AND ARCHITECTURES ARE NOVEL, EXPERIMENTAL, UNVERIFIED, AND PROVIDED STRICTLY "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, VIABILITY, SECURITY, CRYPTOGRAPHIC STRENGTH, DATA INTEGRITY, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. THE AUTHOR (WILLIAM RAIFORD) EXPLICITLY DISCLAIMS ANY VIABILITY OR FITNESS OF THE CRYPTOGRAPHIC, IDENTITY, OR STORAGE MECHANISMS FOR PRODUCTION OR HIGH-SECURITY USE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR COPYRIGHT HOLDER BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES, DATA LOSS, SECURITY BREACH, CRYPTOGRAPHIC FAILURE, OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF, OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE, ITS PROTOCOLS, OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
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ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT & EVALUATIONAL PERIOD NOTICE (BREAKING CHANGES & FULL DATA WIPES):
• Evaluational Period Only: ibgib and the hosted https://ibgib.space service are currently in active early-stage development and are made available strictly for evaluation and testing.
• Breaking Changes & Full Data Wipes: Underlying schemas, wire protocols, Keystone identity chains, and storage formats are evolving rapidly and may undergo unannounced breaking changes, up to and including complete server-side data wipes and handle resets. Do not rely on ibgib.space as your sole repository or backup for critical data.
• Please Contact Us If You Are Evaluating ibgib: If you or your organization are actively using or evaluating ibgib or ibgib.space, please reach out to William Raiford at ibgib.info@ibgib.space or ibgib.info@gmail.com so we can keep you informed of upcoming breaking changes, migrations, or storage resets.

1. Executive Summary for Businesses & Evaluators

Welcome to ibGib. Our licensing model is designed around two core principles: maximizing the wealth and autonomy of the small-and-medium business (SMB) ecosystem, and delivering compounding architectural vision at the leanest margins in the software industry for large enterprises.

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At a Glance:
• Free for Individuals, Non-Profits, Academics & Qualifying Small/Medium Businesses: If your organization has fewer than 100 personnel and less than $10,000,000 USD in both annual revenue and total funds raised, the entire ibgib software stack (libs/* and apps/*, including space-gib and vcs-gib) is 100% free to use, modify, self-host, and build commercial products upon.
• Your Code & Data Remain Under Your Own License: The PolyForm license applies to the ibgib platform software itself—not to the source code, files, or data you commit into your own Cosmoses and Galaxies. You retain 100% ownership and full freedom to license your own code and content however you choose.
• Self-Host & Meter Your Own Nodes Freely: Qualifying small and medium businesses may run their own independent space-gib server nodes and even charge/meter their own customers for storage and sync without owing royalties to William Raiford.
• Lean-Margin Commercial Licensing for Large Enterprises: Commercial organizations reaching or exceeding 100 personnel or $10,000,000 USD in annual revenue or total funds raised must obtain a commercial license.
• Anti-Agentic-Cloning & Prior Art Protection: Unlicensed large enterprises may not use AI agents, LLMs, or clean-room synthesis pipelines to reverse-engineer or clone the core ibgib protocol innovations disclosed in Section 5.

Why Partner Commercially on ibgib?

Modern software infrastructure is deeply fragmented—splitting source control (Git), monorepo build orchestration, package registries, cryptographic identity (PKI/OAuth), collaboration metadata (issues, PRs, discourse), and autonomous agentic workflows/harnesses across disconnected, high-margin silos.

The ibgib protocol ([ib]^[gib]) and Cosmology architecture were conceived and evolved by William Raiford (2016–2026) to unify these pieces into a single, super-symmetrical hypergraph substrate. For larger enterprises, commercial licensing is not merely a compliance checkbox—it is an opportunity to align directly with the long-term architectural vision of how version control, package management, decentralized ZKP/hash-reveal identity (Keystone), and agentic harnesses fit together at scale, while operating on leaner licensing margins than legacy enterprise vendors.

2. Software (space-gib) vs. Hosted Service Terms of Use (ibgib.space)

We maintain a clean distinction between the source-available software in the ibgib monorepo and the official hosted service operated by William Raiford at https://ibgib.space. By accessing or using https://ibgib.space, you agree to the following Terms of Use:

A. Self-Hosted Software (libs/*, space-gib, vcs-gib, blank-gib, ibgib)

B. Ownership & Licensing of Your Content ("Your Cosmos, Your License")

C. Minimum Age Requirement (18+ Only / COPPA Compliance)

D. Acceptable Use Policy, Takedowns (DMCA) & Service Discontinuation

E. Indemnification, Governing Law & Venue

3. How to Obtain a Commercial License

If your organization exceeds (or is approaching) 100 personnel or $10,000,000 USD in annual revenue or total funds raised—or if you are evaluating ibgib, interested in enterprise architectural advisory, or seeking commercial TDM/agentic licensing—please contact William Raiford:

4. Complete Governing Software License (LICENSE)

Every package and galaxy in the ibgib monorepo (monorepo root, build, helper-gib, ts-gib, encrypt-gib, core-gib, node-gib, web-gib, blank-gib, space-gib, vcs-gib, ibgib, and link-gib) is governed by the unified license terms below:

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EXPERIMENTAL ARCHITECTURE & CRYPTOGRAPHY "AS IS" DISCLAIMER
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**THE SOFTWARE AND ALL ASSOCIATED CRYPTOGRAPHIC, SYMMETRIC CIPHER (`encrypt-gib`), KEY DERIVATION (KDF), KEYSTONE IDENTITY, ZERO-KNOWLEDGE PROOF (ZKP), HYPERGRAPH STORAGE, BRANCHING, METATEXT, AND SYNCHRONIZATION ALGORITHMS, PROTOCOLS, AND ARCHITECTURES ARE NOVEL, EXPERIMENTAL, UNVERIFIED, AND PROVIDED STRICTLY "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, VIABILITY, SECURITY, CRYPTOGRAPHIC STRENGTH, DATA INTEGRITY, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. THE AUTHOR (WILLIAM RAIFORD) EXPLICITLY DISCLAIMS ANY VIABILITY OR FITNESS OF THE CRYPTOGRAPHIC, IDENTITY, OR STORAGE MECHANISMS FOR PRODUCTION OR HIGH-SECURITY USE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR COPYRIGHT HOLDER BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES, DATA LOSS, SECURITY BREACH, CRYPTOGRAPHIC FAILURE, OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF, OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE, ITS PROTOCOLS, OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.**

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PART 1: NON-BINDING STATEMENT OF INTENT & ECOSYSTEM PHILOSOPHY
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The ibgib protocol and cosmology architecture are designed to reduce systemic
complexity at scale and foster an open, portable, decentralized ecosystem of
identity and storage nodes without lock-in.

Under the PolyForm Small Business License 1.0.0 (Part 3 below), this software
and its underlying protocol mechanisms are free for individuals, non-profits,
academic/research institutions, and qualifying small businesses (including
those operating and metering their own independent `space-gib` nodes). Larger
organizations must obtain a commercial license via https://ibgib.space
(ibgib.info@ibgib.space / ibgib.info@gmail.com).

(Part 1 is a non-binding statement of intent; the Disclaimer above, Part 2, and
Part 3 are binding.)

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PART 2: DEFENSIVE PRIOR ART DISCLOSURE, AGENTIC REVERSE-ENGINEERING
        RESTRICTIONS & DATA RIGHTS
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Copyright (c) 2016–2026 William Raiford (https://ibgib.space). All rights reserved.

1. Expanded Small Business Revenue & Funding Threshold ($10,000,000 USD):
   By express supplemental grant of the Licensor (William Raiford), the $1,000,000
   USD annual revenue and total funds raised threshold in the "Small Business"
   definition of Part 3 below is hereby expanded to $10,000,000 USD (Ten Million
   United States Dollars), adjusted for inflation as specified in Part 3, while
   retaining the threshold of fewer than 100 individuals working as employees or
   independent contractors. The Licensor reserves the right to modify this
   supplemental threshold for future releases or upon written notice.

2. Defensive Prior Art Disclosure & Statement of Core Innovations:
   This software and the canonical `PRIOR_ART_AND_INNOVATIONS.md` disclosure
   constitute a formal Defensive Publication establishing prior art (conceived,
   evolved, and publicly disclosed from 2016 through 2026) under 35 U.S.C. § 102
   and international patent law for the novel architectures and methods
   originated by William Raiford, including without limitation:
   (a) `ib^gib` Composite Dynamic Metadata & Hash Checkpoint Addressing;
   (b) Super-Symmetrical Hypergraph Timelines (`dna`, `past`, `ancestor`,
       `linkedRel8ns`, and unified data/metadata/derivative synchronization);
   (c) Keystone Hypergraph Identity, Scoped Delegation (Internal Challenge Pools
       vs. External Delegate Keystones) & Cryptographic Audit Timelines;
   (d) Cosmology 2x2 Hypergraph Containers, Soft-Link Partitioning (`@`/`$@`) &
       Deterministic Multi-Galaxy Virtual Filesystem Slices (`.slice`); and
   (e) `encrypt-gib` Hash-Only Recursive-Digest One-Time-Pad Alphabet Indexing
       Cipher & KDF.
   Severability & Equivalence: Each innovation and sub-claim is independently
   novel and severable, applying both standing alone and in any combination,
   regardless of surface syntax, field naming, or delimiter characters.

3. Prohibition on Unlicensed Agentic Reverse-Engineering & Protocol Cloning:
   For any organization that does NOT qualify for a free license under Part 3
   (as expanded by Section 1 above):
   - You may NOT use automated AI agents, large language models (LLMs),
     static/dynamic analysis tools, or clean-room synthesis workflows to
     ingest, analyze, decompile, translate, transpile, or reverse-engineer this
     software, its wire protocols, or its hypergraph structures in order to
     reproduce or synthesize a competing implementation of any one or more of
     the Core Innovations listed in Section 2 above.
   - Any such agentic or automated synthesis, translation, or structural
     reproduction derived from inspecting or training upon this codebase or its
     protocol traffic is contractually deemed a "new work based on the software"
     requiring a commercial license under Part 3.

4. Principal Aggregation, Hosted `ibgib.space` Metering & TDM Reservation:
   - Under Part 3 and applicable electronic agency law (UETA § 14), autonomous
     agents, smart contracts, or Keystone identities deployed on behalf of an
     organization count as use by that organization.
   - Connecting users or agents to the official hosted `ibgib.space` service is
     governed by the `ibgib.space` Terms of Service and API metering policies.
   - All Text and Data Mining (TDM) rights to scrape Code, Keystone, or Metatext
     Galaxies for commercial AI foundation model training or uncompensated
     commercial RAG offerings are expressly reserved (`TDM-Reserved`).

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PART 3: POLYFORM SMALL BUSINESS LICENSE 1.0.0
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PolyForm Small Business License 1.0.0

Acceptance

In order to get any license under these terms, you must agree to them as both
strict obligations and conditions to all your licenses.

Copyright License

The licensor grants you a copyright license for the software to do everything
you might do with the software that would otherwise infringe the licensor's
copyright in it for any permitted purpose. However, you may only distribute the
software according to Distribution License and make changes or new works based
on the software according to Changes and New Works License.

Distribution License

The licensor grants you an additional copyright license to distribute copies of
the software. Your license to distribute covers distributing the software with
changes and new works permitted by Changes and New Works License.

Notices

You must ensure that anyone who gets a copy of any part of the software from
you also gets a copy of these terms or the URL for them above, as well as
copies of any plain-text lines beginning with Required Notice: that the
licensor provided with the software. For example:

  Required Notice: Copyright Yoyodyne, Inc. (http://example.com)

Changes and New Works License

The licensor grants you an additional copyright license to make changes and new
works based on the software for any permitted purpose.

Patent License

The licensor grants you a patent license for the software that covers patent
claims the licensor can license, or becomes able to license, that you would
infringe by using the software.

Permitted Purpose

A permitted purpose is any purpose other than use by a company that does not
qualify as a small business. Developing, using, or distributing the software on
behalf of another company counts as use by that company.

Small Business

A company qualifies as a small business if it has fewer than 100 individuals
working as employees or independent contractors, and both its total annual
revenues and total funds raised are less than $1,000,000 USD, adjusted for
inflation according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics' consumer
price index for all urban consumers, U.S. city average, for all items, not
seasonally adjusted, with 1982–84=100 as the reference base. Total annual
revenues and total funds raised include those of all affiliates under common
control with your company.

Noncommercial Organizations

Use by any charitable organization, educational institution, public research
organization, public safety or health organization, environmental protection
organization, or government institution is use for a permitted purpose
regardless of the size of the organization or its revenues or funds raised.

Fair Use

You may have "fair use" rights for the software under the law. These terms do
not limit them.

No Other Rights

These terms do not allow you to sublicense or transfer any of your licenses to
anyone else, or prevent the licensor from granting licenses to anyone else.
These terms do not imply any other licenses.

Patent Defense

If you make any written claim that the software infringes or contributes to
infringement of any patent, your patent license for the software granted under
these terms ends immediately. If your company makes such a claim, your patent
license ends immediately for work on behalf of your company.

Violations

The first time you are notified in writing that you have violated any of these
terms, or done anything with the software not covered by your licenses, your
licenses can nonetheless continue if you come into full compliance with these
terms, and take practical steps to correct past violations, within 32 days of
receiving notice. Otherwise, all your licenses end immediately.

No Liability

As far as the law allows, the software comes as is, without any warranty or
condition, and the licensor will not be liable to you for any damages arising
out of these terms or the use or nature of the software, under any kind of
legal claim.

Definitions

The licensor is the individual or entity offering these terms, and the software
is the software the licensor makes available under these terms.

You refers to the individual or entity agreeing to these terms.

Your company is any legal entity, sole proprietorship, or other kind of
organization that you work for, plus all organizations that have control over,
are under the control of, or are under common control with that organization.
Control means ownership of substantially all the assets of an entity, or the
power to direct its management and policies by vote, contract, or otherwise.
Control can be direct or indirect.

Your licenses are all the licenses granted to you for the software under these
terms.

Use means anything you do with the software requiring one of your licenses.

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Required Notice: Copyright (c) 2016–2026 William Raiford (https://ibgib.space). See PRIOR_ART_AND_INNOVATIONS.md for Defensive Prior Art Disclosure and Agentic Reverse-Engineering Restrictions.
Required Notice: **THE SOFTWARE AND ALL ASSOCIATED CRYPTOGRAPHIC, SYMMETRIC CIPHER (`encrypt-gib`), KEY DERIVATION (KDF), KEYSTONE IDENTITY, ZERO-KNOWLEDGE PROOF (ZKP), HYPERGRAPH STORAGE, BRANCHING, METATEXT, AND SYNCHRONIZATION ALGORITHMS, PROTOCOLS, AND ARCHITECTURES ARE NOVEL, EXPERIMENTAL, UNVERIFIED, AND PROVIDED STRICTLY "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, VIABILITY, SECURITY, CRYPTOGRAPHIC STRENGTH, DATA INTEGRITY, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. THE AUTHOR (WILLIAM RAIFORD) EXPLICITLY DISCLAIMS ANY VIABILITY OR FITNESS OF THE CRYPTOGRAPHIC, IDENTITY, OR STORAGE MECHANISMS FOR PRODUCTION OR HIGH-SECURITY USE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR COPYRIGHT HOLDER BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES, DATA LOSS, SECURITY BREACH, CRYPTOGRAPHIC FAILURE, OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF, OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE, ITS PROTOCOLS, OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.**
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5. Defensive Publication & Summary of Core Innovations (2016–2026)

As detailed in the repository root PRIOR_ART_AND_INNOVATIONS.md disclosure, William Raiford has conceived, evolved, and publicly disclosed five independent, severable families of architectural innovation under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1), EPC Article 54, and the PCT:

  1. Innovation 1 — Composite Dynamic Metadata & Checkpoint Hash Content Addressing ([ib]^[gib]):
    • Claim 1A: Combining a dynamic, use-case-defined metadata segment ([ib]) with a cryptographic digest segment ([gib]) via a primary delimiter (e.g., [ib]^[gib]), binding domain semantics directly into the content address for O(1) inspection prior to payload retrieval.
    • Claim 1B: Sub-delimiting multiple cryptographic digests inside the [gib] segment—combining the current frame's [punctiliar_hash] with its genesis Temporal Junction Point ([tjp_gib]) and arbitrary intermediate timeline checkpoints (e.g., [ib]^[punctiliar_hash].[tjp_gib] or [ib]^[punctiliar_hash].[checkpoint_hash_n]...[tjp_gib]).
  2. Innovation 2 — Super-Symmetrical Hypergraph Timelines & In-Band dna Transform Memoization:
    • Claim 2A: Persisting state-transition transforms (fork, mut8, rel8) as first-class immutable hypergraph nodes (dna) within the same graph substrate as the data they evolve.
    • Claim 2B: Strictly distinguishing intra-timeline temporal evolution edges (past, preserving tjp) from inter-timeline fork lineage edges (ancestor, minting a new tjp).
    • Claim 2C: Dynamically selecting between accretive history arrays (past: [frame_0, ..., frame_n]) and single-predecessor hash-linked chain pointers (linkedRel8ns) on a per-use-case or per-relation basis, independent of any consensus or witnessing layer.
    • Claim 2D: Super-symmetrical synchronization (SyncSagaIbGib) transmitting, validating, and 3-way merging data, metadata, dna, and derivative graphs via a single uniform protocol.
  3. Innovation 3 — Keystone Hypergraph-Native Identity, Scoped Delegation & Cryptographic Audit Timelines:
    • Claim 3A: Modeling an identity or authority record as a linearly evolving, non-branching hypergraph stone timeline (Keystone, omitting dna and serialized via critical sections).
    • Claim 3B: Advancing and signing claims via stateful post-quantum hash-reveal (H = Hash(S)) and ZKP challenge pools (KeystoneChallengePool) with configurable replenishment (top-up, replace-all, consume, delete-all) and hybrid sequential/random/target-bound selection.
    • Claim 3C: Dual-mode verb-scoped delegation (allowedVerbs) balancing storage churn against runtime resolution via Internal Delegates (in-keystone challenge pools, including isForeign: true custodial pools) and External Delegates (separate registered Delegate Keystones evolving along independent delegateTjpAddr timelines).
    • Claim 3D: Conceived roadmap generalization using the Keystone timeline as an official chain-of-trust and key-rotation audit ledger for extrinsic asymmetric PKI public keys with out-of-band peer challenges.
  4. Innovation 4 — Cosmology 2x2 Hypergraph Container, Soft-Link Partitioning & Virtual Slice Projection:
    • Claim 4A: Representing data for any application domain (including, but not limited to, monorepo and polyrepo version control, issue tracking, Metatext discourse, Package registries, and downstream app state) via a unified Cosmos container housing member Galaxies governed by a branching/linear by intrinsic/extrinsic 2x2 matrix (including granular scoped file/subtree branching via scopedItemPath).
    • Claim 4B: Separating hard cryptographic DAG links (rel8ns) from cross-galaxy/cross-space soft links (@/$@ in data) to prevent transitive DAG bloat.
    • Claim 4C: Deterministically projecting multiple galaxies within a single Cosmos onto flat filesystems via ordered layer stacks (layers: string[]) and one-way virtual secret slices (.virtual.secrets.slice).
  5. Innovation 5 — encrypt-gib Hash-Only Recursive-Digest One-Time-Pad Alphabet Indexing Cipher & KDF:
    • Claim 5A & 5B: Symmetric encryption, stream ciphering, and key derivation constructed exclusively from a pluggable cryptographic hash primitive via recursive hexadecimal/digest indexing into dynamically generated, just-in-time (JIT) one-time-pad-like permutation alphabets—achieving radical algorithmic simplification and reduced implementation attack surface without bitwise XOR streaming or finite-field S-boxes.