# legal
the legal framework under which libk is developed is intended to maximize openness, fairness, and flexibility. we welcome any suggestions for changes to this legal regime, but please note that we are not and will never be open to corporations or individuals that seek to exploit our good-faith free labor for their own selfish profit: libk is above all else a project for and by the open source community, and for the sake of that community we will aggressively protect our intellectual property.

## license
all intellectual property associated with the libk project is released under its project license, the [European Union Public License this is a copyleft license devised by the European Union intended to protect open-source software by closing the service provider loophole, without going the extra step of preventing dynamic linking by non-copyleft software that the AGPL takes. the EUPL was developed and evaluated by many leading legal professionals, so its guarantees are known to be enforcible, rigorous, and explicitly backed by major states.

## organizational framework
libk is currently unrepresented by any organization, and is developed by an informally affiliated group of individuals. however, if and when the project becomes large enough, it is our intent to transfer ownership of the project and all associated intellectual property, including the entire libk codebase, to a libk development directorate, a small board that will oversee development and ensure the protection of the its intellectual property.

## contribution
all project contributors agree to the following terms:

  1. by contributing intellectual property (hereafter "IP") to the libk project, you release that IP under the same license currently named on this page as the project license.
  2. any IP you contribute will become the sole and exclusive property of the libk development directorate if and when such an organization is formed. the libk development directorate (hereafter "LDD") shall be understood as referencing any legal entity or person which is created by the project maintainer (currently Hale) in conjunction with any other project contributor(s) or personnel with the explicitly stated purpose of assuming ownership of the libk codebase. until such an event transpires, you retain all rights of ownership over the IP not waived by the terms of the project license.
  3. notwithstanding any of the above, you retain an irrevocable right to be named as a contributor while any IP of your creation is included in the libk codebase or website. this right must be exercised explicitly, but remains extant regardless of failure to do so unless the right is explicitly waived. even in the event that your ownership is transferred to the LDD, you shall retain irrevocable usage and licensing rights equal to those which may be exercised by the LDD, with the sole proviso that should these rights in any way conflict with the LDD's, the LDD's rights will enjoy supremacy.