VMAP0 Copyright
This page discusses copyright to the VMAP0 data.
After all this information about how to aquire, use, and locate the VMAP0 data, you may be wondering just what the copyright situation is, and whether it is OK to use in your personal or business project. To answer this, here's the VMAP0 Copyright Statement:
The data is Public Domain, with only the following conditions imposed:
"As an agency of the United States government, NIMA makes no copyright claim under Title 17 of the United States Code with respect to any copyrightable material compiled in these products, nor requires compensation for their use."
"When incorporating the NIMA maps into your product, please include the following:
a. "this product was developed using materials from the United States National Imagery and Mapping Agency and are reproduced with permission",
b. "this product has neither been endorsed nor authorized by the United States National Imagery and Mapping Agency or the United States Department of Defense"."
"With respect to any advertising, promoting or publicizing of this product, NIMA requires that you refrain from using the agency's name, seal, or initials."
However, all is not quite what it seems. If you explore a bit deeper, you will find a file in the v0eur, v0sas, and v0soa directories called 'readme1.txt' It has this to say:
Certain features in the Boundaries Coverage and the Reference Library contain the intellectual property of Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI) and its licensors. Copyright (C) 1992-2000 ESRI and its licensors. All rights reserved. These features are the Boundaries Coverage (bnd) edge features representing administrative unit boundaries that have an FACC code (f_code) of FA000 and an attribute value of 26 in the USE field - First Order Administrative Division features. Also included are Boundary face features with an FACC code (f_code) of FA001 and an administrative unit name present in the NAM field. Within the Reference Library (rference) the Library Reference (libref), Place Name (placenam), and Political Boundary (polbnd) Coverages also contain intellectual property of ESRI. See the ESRI Data License Agreement contained in this file for conditions of use.
ESRI DATA LICENSE AGREEMENT This ESRI Data License Agreement (referred to here after as the "Agreement") is between you (the "Licensee") and Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. ("ESRI"), a corporation, with its principal place of business at 380 New York Street, Redlands, California, 92373-8100, United States of America.
APPLICABILITY This Agreement ONLY applies to those data in Vmap Level 0 edition 5.0 supplied by ESRI. Certain features in the Boundaries Coverage and the Reference Library contain intellectual property of ESRI and its licensors. These features are the Boundaries Coverage (bnd) edge features representing administrative unit boundaries that have an FACC code (f_code) of FA000 and an attribute value of 26 in the USE field. Also included are Boundary face features with an FACC code (f_code) of FA001 and an administrative unit name present in the NAM field. Within the Reference Library (rference) the Library Reference (libref), Place Name (placenam), and Political Boundary (polbnd) Coverages also contain intellectual property of ESRI. The above described features are referred to here after as the "Data".
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND RESERVATION OF OWNERSHIP The Data are owned by ESRI and its licensor(s) and are protected by United States laws and applicable international laws, treaties, and conventions regarding intellectual property or proprietary rights. ESRI and its licensor(s) retain all rights, title, and ownership not granted herein to all copies of the Data licensed under this Agreement. Licensee agrees to use reasonable effort to protect the Data from unauthorized use, reproduction, or distribution. All rights not specifically granted in this Agreement are reserved to ESRI and its licensor(s).
GRANT OF LICENSE ESRI grants to Licensee a personal and nonexclusive license to use, copy, reproduce, prepared derivative works, redistribute, and retransmit the Data for any internal or noncommercial purposes so long as the metadata and license agreement files accompany any redistribution of the Data in digital format.
SCOPE OF USE
(a) Permitted Uses Licensee may use, copy, reproduce, archive, alter, modify, merge,
prepare derivative works, publicly display, redistribute, and retransmit the Data for any internal or noncommercial purpose. Licensee may provide access to these Data to any consultant or contractor of the Licensee, provided that the consultant or contractor is using the Data for the benefit of the Licensee, and so long as the consultant or contractor agrees to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Agreement.
(b) Uses Not Permitted Licensee shall not rent, lease, sublicense, lend, assign, time-
share, remarket, resell, or redistribute these Data, or derived portions of these Data to third parties in vector format (e.g. geographic Data coordinates and/or associated attributes) for commercial purposes without the expressed permission of ESRI. Licensee shall not remove or obscure any ESRI or its licensors copyright, proprietary, or metadata notices.
TERM AND TERMINATION This Agreement shall commence upon the date of receipt of the Data and shall continue until such time that (i) the Licensee elects to discontinue using these Data, or (ii) ESRI elects to terminate for material breach.
DATA DISCLAIMER The Data has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy, currency, and completeness are not guaranteed. The Data may contain some nonconformities, defects, errors, or omissions. ESRI and its Licensors do not warrant that the Data will meet the end users needs or expectations, or that all nonconformaities can or will be corrected. ESRI and its Licensors are not inviting reliance on the Data and the user should always verify the map and attribute data.
DISCLAIMER OF WARRENTY AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY LICENSEE EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGES AND AGREES THAT THE DATA IS DELIVERED "AS-IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NONINTERFERENCE, SYSTEM INTEGRATION, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. LICENSEE ASSUMES ALL RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE DATA. IN NO EVENT SHALL ESRI OR ITS LICENSOR BE LIABLE TO LICENSEE FOR COSTS OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOST PROFITS; LOST SALES OR BUSINESS EXPENDITURES; INVESTMENTS; OR COMMITMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH ANY BUSINESS, LOSS OF ANY GOODWILL, OR FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS AGREEMENT OR USE OF THE DATA HOWEVER CAUSED, ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, AND WHETHER OR NOT ESRI OR ITS LICENSOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. THESE LIMITATIONS SHALL APPLY NOTWITHSTANDING ANY FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY LIMITED REMEDY.
GOVERNING LAW To the extent that federal law is not dispositive, this Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California without reference to conflict of laws principles.
ENTIRE AGREEMENT This Agreement constitutes the sole and entire agreement between ESRI and the Licensee as to the subject matter set forth herein.