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Re: COMCIFS approval for imgcif dictionary version 1.0

Dear Brian,

I'm gratified that the version 1.0 dictionary has been approved.  I hasten
to say that if I might have played some early catalytic role, the bulk of
the original inspiration came from Andy Hammersley, and the real work to
tune it up and prepare a workable set of subroutines was done by Paul
Ellis and Herb Bernstein.  It is they, along with the others who attended
our workshop
(http://www.iucr.org/iucr-top/cif/mmcif/ndb/cbf/cbf-workshop.html) who
deserve the credit, and I'm happy to accept any blame. 

As we attempt to disseminate the ideas and to gain acceptance of the
standard within the community, it will be good if we understand what this
approval by COMCIFS means.  Specifically, on this document
http://www.iucr.org/iucr-top/cif/mmcif/ndb/cbf/index.html I see this
statement: "CIF is copyrighted by the IUCr and it is intended that CBF
would eventually be treated in the same manner."  I presume that the CBF
standard reflected in the dictionary below is now actually copyrighted.  I
gather that the fundamental description of the copyright is in this
statement: 
http://www.bernstein-plus-sons.com/software/CBF/doc/CBFlib_NOTICES.html I
wonder if perhaps there is an equivalently detailed statement within the
IUCr site; I can't find it. 

I presume there are teeth to the copyright in that no-one may use this
standard and sell it, nor may they corrupt it then call it imgCIF or CBF,
or be subject to some legal problems from IUCr.  On the other hand, I also
presume there's no coercion from the IUCr to vendors or programmers to use
it, and that this sort of persuasion will need to come from the community. 

Perhaps we need specifically to understand what this copyright means in
terms of commercial groups like MSC using the Stanford APIs.  I believe
we'd like it if they were able to use them in the packages they sell but
with attribution to the authors; somehow they're selling their code but
not the Stanford APIs.  Does this make sense or am I too naive?  Can
anyone help, please?

Thank you, Brian and David Brown, for your enthusiastic support with this.
Best wishes to all for the new year, or, depending how you count, the new
millennium.

Bob

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On Fri, 22 Dec 2000, Brian McMahon wrote:

> I am pleased to announce that the IUCr Committee for the Maintenance of the
> CIF Standard (COMCIFS) has approved version 1.0 of the imgCIF dictionary for
> use in the creation and interpretation of imgCIF and CBF data files.
> Members of this list are invited to preview the release dictionary at
>    ftp://ftp.iucr.org/pub/cif_img.dic
> or in a navigable HTML version at
>    http://www.iucr.org/iucr-top/cif/imgcif/cif_img_1.0.html
> 
> This early release is to allow members of the imgcif list to verify that
> there are no major errors in this version. An official release notice will
> be posted early in the New Year.
> 
> I should like to take this opportunity to congratulate and thank Herbert
> Bernstein, Andy Hammersley, Bob Sweet, Paul Ellis and the many other
> participants at the Brookhaven workshop and in community discussion who have
> brought this work to this stage.
> 
> Best regards to all.
> 
> Brian McMahon
> Co-ordinating Secretary, COMCIFS
> 



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