# Contributor License Agreement (CLA)

Thank you for your interest in contributing to **VideoWare**, a project
maintained by **Makeware** ("Makeware", "we", "us").

This Contributor License Agreement ("Agreement") sets out the terms under which
you ("You") contribute to the project. Video Ware is currently distributed under
the GNU Affero General Public License v3 (AGPL-3.0-only). This Agreement lets You
keep the copyright to your work while granting Makeware enough rights to keep the
project's licensing flexible — so the maintainers can, if needed in the future,
relicense the project (for example under different terms) **without having to
track down every past contributor for permission**. You retain ownership of your
contributions.

> **This is not legal advice.** If you contribute on behalf of a company, or you
> are unsure about the effects of this Agreement, please consult a lawyer.

## 1. Definitions

- **"Contribution"** means any original work of authorship — including any
  modifications or additions to existing work, and any associated documentation
  or metadata — that You intentionally submit to Makeware for inclusion in the
  project. "Submit" means any form of communication sent to Makeware or its
  representatives, including but not limited to pull requests, patches, issues,
  and electronic or written communication, but excluding any communication
  conspicuously marked in writing as "Not a Contribution."

## 2. You retain ownership

You retain all right, title, and interest in and to Your Contributions. Nothing
in this Agreement transfers ownership of Your copyright to Makeware. This is a
**license**, not an assignment.

## 3. Copyright license grant

You hereby grant to Makeware, and to recipients of software distributed by
Makeware, a **perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable**
copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display,
publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute Your Contributions and such
derivative works.

You expressly agree that Makeware **may license and sublicense Your Contributions
under any license terms it chooses, including the AGPL-3.0-only under which the
project is currently distributed and any other license terms the maintainers may
adopt for the project in the future.** This licensing flexibility is the core
purpose of this Agreement.

## 4. Patent license grant

You hereby grant to Makeware and to recipients of software distributed by
Makeware a **perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable**
(except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made, use, offer
to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer Your Contribution, where such
license applies only to those patent claims licensable by You that are
necessarily infringed by Your Contribution alone or by combination of Your
Contribution with the project to which it was submitted.

If any entity institutes patent litigation against You or any other entity
(including a cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that Your
Contribution, or the project to which You contributed, constitutes direct or
contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses granted to that entity
under this Agreement for that Contribution or project shall terminate as of the
date such litigation is filed.

## 5. Your representations

You represent that:

1. Each of Your Contributions is **Your original creation**, and You have the
   legal right to grant the licenses in this Agreement.
2. If Your Contribution includes work that is not Your original creation, You
   have identified the source and any license or other restriction (including
   related patents and trademarks) of which You are personally aware, and such
   third-party material is conspicuously marked as such.
3. If You are making the Contribution **as part of Your employment** or You
   otherwise know that Your employer has rights to intellectual property You
   create, You represent that You have received permission to make the
   Contribution on behalf of that employer, or that Your employer has waived such
   rights, or that Your employer has executed this Agreement with Makeware.
4. You will notify Makeware of any facts or circumstances of which You become
   aware that would make these representations inaccurate in any respect.

## 6. No obligation, no warranty

You are not expected to provide support for Your Contributions, except to the
extent You desire to provide support. Unless required by applicable law or agreed
to in writing, You provide Your Contributions **"AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
KIND**, either express or implied, including, without limitation, any warranties
of MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, or NON-INFRINGEMENT.

## 7. Miscellaneous

This Agreement is the entire agreement between You and Makeware regarding Your
Contributions, and supersedes any prior agreements on that subject. If any
provision is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect.

---

## How to accept this Agreement

By submitting a Contribution (for example, by opening a pull request), **You agree
to the terms of this Agreement** for that and all future Contributions to the
project, unless You state otherwise in writing at the time of submission.

To make this explicit on each commit, we ask that You **sign off** your commits,
which certifies that You agree to this CLA and to the Developer Certificate of
Origin ([https://developercertificate.org/](https://developercertificate.org/)):

```bash
git commit --signoff   # adds a "Signed-off-by: Your Name <you@example.com>" line
```