BIOS Non-Commercial Software License 1.0
1. Access and Applicability
These licence terms apply to the BIOS software made available by the University of Stuttgart ("Software").
A licence under these terms is granted only to a person or legal entity ("Licensee") whose request for access to the Software has been approved by the University of Stuttgart ("Access Approval").
Access Approval may be issued electronically, including by email. No separate licence document or Grant Notice is required.
Publication of information, metadata or documentation relating to the Software does not by itself grant any right to use, copy, modify or distribute the Software.
2. Non-Commercial Licence Grant
Subject to these terms, the University of Stuttgart grants the Licensee a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use the Software for any Non-Commercial Purpose.
This includes the right to:
- use, run and evaluate the Software;
- reproduce the Software as reasonably necessary;
- study and analyse the Software;
- modify, adapt, extend and improve the Software and create derivative works;
- integrate the Software or modified versions into other software, systems and research environments; and
- permit employees, students, researchers and contractors acting on behalf of the Licensee to exercise these rights for the Licensee's Non-Commercial Purposes.
The Licensee is not required to publish, disclose or contribute back any modifications or derivative works.
3. Non-Commercial Purpose
"Non-Commercial Purpose" means a purpose that is not primarily intended for commercial advantage or monetary compensation.
In particular, the licence does not permit:
- use of the Software as part of a commercial product or service;
- use of the Software to provide paid services to third parties;
- commercial licensing or sale of the Software or modified versions; or
- other exploitation of the Software primarily directed toward commercial advantage.
Commercial use may be authorised separately in writing by the relevant rightsholder.
4. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Unless separately authorised in writing by the University of Stuttgart, the Software may not be used to train, pre-train or fine-tune an artificial intelligence or machine-learning model, or be included in a dataset prepared for such training, pre-training or fine-tuning.
This restriction applies whether the relevant AI or machine-learning activity is commercial or non-commercial.
Nothing in this Section restricts rights that cannot lawfully be excluded or restricted under applicable law.
5. Sharing and Distribution
The Licensee may provide copies of the Software or modified versions to its employees, students, researchers and contractors where necessary for exercising the rights granted under this licence on behalf of the Licensee.
The Licensee may also provide copies of the Software to another person or legal entity that has separately received Access Approval from the University of Stuttgart.
Modified versions may be provided to another person or legal entity that has separately received Access Approval, provided that the Licensee has the right to provide the modifications included in that version.
The Software or modified versions may not otherwise be made publicly available or distributed to third parties.
Providing a copy of the Software to another person does not by itself grant that person a licence to the Software.
No general right to sublicense or transfer this licence is granted.
6. Ownership, Third-Party Rights and Notices
The Software is licensed, not sold.
Copyright and other intellectual property rights in the Software remain with their respective rightsholders.
The University of Stuttgart is expressly authorised by the relevant rightsholder(s) to grant the rights set out in this licence to Licensees in accordance with these terms.
Components of the Software may be subject to separate third-party licence terms. Such terms remain unaffected by this licence and apply to the relevant components.
The Licensee must retain copyright notices, attribution notices and other legal notices contained in the Software.
The Licensee may not represent that the University of Stuttgart or any other rightsholder endorses the Licensee, its activities, products or services.
7. Termination, Warranty and Liability
The licence terminates if the Licensee materially breaches these terms and fails to remedy the breach within 30 days after receiving written or electronic notice of the breach.
Upon termination, the Licensee must cease exercising the rights granted under this licence and delete copies of the Software, except where retention is required by law or where copies remain solely in routine backup systems and are not further used.
The Software is provided free of charge and without any promise that it is error-free or suitable for a particular purpose.
Warranty and liability are governed by applicable law. Nothing in this licence excludes or limits any warranty, liability or other right to the extent that it cannot legally be excluded or limited.
8. Governing Law
This licence is governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, excluding its conflict-of-law rules and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.
Nothing in this licence restricts rights that cannot lawfully be excluded or restricted under applicable law.
