CBFlib Notices

The following notice applies to this work as a whole and to the works included within it:



The IUCr Policy
for the Protection and the Promotion of the STAR File and
CIF Standards for Exchanging and Archiving Electronic Data

Overview

The Crystallographic Information File (CIF)[1] is a standard for information interchange promulgated by the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr). CIF (Hall, Allen & Brown, 1991) is the recommended method for submitting publications to Acta Crystallographica Section C and reports of crystal structure determinations to other sections of Acta Crystallographica and many other journals. The syntax of a CIF is a subset of the more general STAR File[2] format. The CIF and STAR File approaches are used increasingly in the structural sciences for data exchange and archiving, and are having a significant influence on these activities in other fields.

Statement of intent

The IUCr's interest in the STAR File is as a general data interchange standard for science, and its interest in the CIF, a conformant derivative of the STAR File, is as a concise data exchange and archival standard for crystallography and structural science.

Protection of the standards

To protect the STAR File and the CIF as standards for interchanging and archiving electronic data, the IUCr, on behalf of the scientific community,

* holds the copyrights on the standards themselves,

* owns the associated trademarks and service marks, and

* holds a patent on the STAR File.

These intellectual property rights relate solely to the interchange formats, not to the data contained therein, nor to the software used in the generation, access or manipulation of the data.

Promotion of the standards

The sole requirement that the IUCr, in its protective role, imposes on software purporting to process STAR File or CIF data is that the following conditions be met prior to sale or distribution.

* Software claiming to read files written to either the STAR File or the CIF standard must be able to extract the pertinent data from a file conformant to the STAR File syntax, or the CIF syntax, respectively.

* Software claiming to write files in either the STAR File, or the CIF, standard must produce files that are conformant to the STAR File syntax, or the CIF syntax, respectively.

* Software claiming to read definitions from a specific data dictionary approved by the IUCr must be able to extract any pertinent definition which is conformant to the dictionary definition language (DDL)[3] associated with that dictionary.

The IUCr, through its Committee on CIF Standards, will assist any developer to verify that software meets these conformance conditions.

Glossary of terms

[1] CIF:

is a data file conformant to the file syntax defined at http://www.iucr.org/iucr-top/cif/spec/index.html

[2] STAR File:

is a data file conformant to the file syntax defined at http://www.iucr.org/iucr-top/cif/spec/star/index.html

[3] DDL:

is a language used in a data dictionary to define data items in terms of "attributes". Dictionaries currently approved by the IUCr, and the DDL versions used to construct these dictionaries, are listed at http://www.iucr.org/iucr-top/cif/spec/ddl/index.html

Last modified: 30 September 2000

IUCr Policy Copyright (C) 2000 International Union of Crystallography



CBFlib V0.1 Notice

The following Diclaimer Notice applies to CBFlib V0.1, from which this version is derived.

  • The items furnished herewith were developed under the sponsorship of the U.S. Government. Neither the U.S., nor the U.S. D.O.E., nor the Leland Stanford Junior University, nor their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any liability or responsibility for accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product or process disclosed, or represents that its use will not infringe privately-owned rights. Mention of any product, its manufacturer, or suppliers shall not, nor is it intended to, imply approval, disapproval, or fitness for any particular use. The U.S. and the University at all times retain the right to use and disseminate the furnished items for any purpose whatsoever.
  • Notice 91 02 01


CIFPARSE notice

Portions of this software are loosely based on the CIFPARSE software package from the NDB at Rutgers university (see http://ndbserver.rutgers.edu/NDB/mmcif/software). CIFPARSE is part of the NDBQUERY application, a program component of the Nucleic Acid Database Project [ H. M. Berman, W. K. Olson, D. L. Beveridge, J. K. Westbrook, A. Gelbin, T. Demeny, S. H. Shieh, A. R. Srinivasan, and B. Schneider. (1992). The Nucleic Acid Database: A Comprehensive Relational Database of Three-Dimensional Structures of Nucleic Acids. Biophys J., 63, 751-759.], whose cooperation is gratefully acknowledged, especially in the form of design concepts created by J. Westbrook.

Please be aware of the following notice in the CIFPARSE API:

  • This software is provided WITHOUT WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR ANY OTHER WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. RUTGERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY THAT THE SOFTWARE WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY PATENT, COPYRIGHT OR OTHER PROPRIETARY RIGHT.


MPACK notice

Portions of this library are adapted from the "mpack/munpack version 1.5" routines, written by John G. Myers. Mpack and munpack are utilities for encoding and decoding (respectively) binary files in MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) format mail messages. The mpack software used is (C) Copyright 1993,1994 by Carnegie Mellon University, All Rights Reserved, and is subject to the following notice:

  • Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of Carnegie Mellon University not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission. Carnegie Mellon University makes no representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.
  • CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.


MD5 Notice

The following notice applies to the message digest software in md5.h and md5.c which are optionally used by this library. To that extent, this library is a work "derived from the RSA Data Security, Inc. MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm".

The software in md5.h and md5.c is Copyright (C) 1991-2, RSA Data Security, Inc. Created 1991. All rights reserved, and is subject to the following notice:

  • License to copy and use this software is granted provided that it is identified as the "RSA Data Security, Inc. MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm" in all material mentioning or referencing this software or this function.
  • License is also granted to make and use derivative works provided that such works are identified as "derived from the RSA Data Security, Inc. MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm" in all material mentioning or referencing the derived work.
  • RSA Data Security, Inc. makes no representations concerning either the merchantability of this software or the suitability of this software for any particular purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty of any kind.
  • These notices must be retained in any copies of any part of this documentation and/or software.



Updated 23 April 2001. yaya@bernstein-plus-sons.com