VMD License
VMD Plugin License
Except where noted, the VMD plugins are provided under the
UIUC Open Source License, as described here.
Main VMD License
The main VMD program and its source code are governed by the license below.
University of Illinois
Visual Molecular Dynamics Software License Agreement
Upon execution of this Agreement by the party identified below ("Licensee"),
The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois ("Illinois"), on behalf
of The Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group ("TCBG") in the Beckman
Institute, will provide the Visual Molecular Dynamics ("VMD") software in
ExecutableCode and/or Source Code form ("Software") to Licensee, subject to
the following terms and conditions. For purposes of this Agreement,
Executable Code is the compiled code, which is ready to run on Licensee's
computer. Source code consists of a set of files which contain the actual
program commands that are compiled to form the Executable Code.
1. The Software is intellectual property owned by Illinois, and all right,
title and interest, including copyright, remain with Illinois. Illinois
grants, and Licensee hereby accepts, a restricted, non-exclusive,
non-transferable license to use the Software for academic, research and
internal business purposes only, e.g. not for commercial use (see Clause 7
below), without a fee.
2. Licensee may, at its own expense, create and freely distribute
complimentary works that interoperate with the Software, directing others to
the TCBG server to license and obtain the Software itself. Licensee may, at
its own expense, modify the Software to make derivative works. Except as
explicitly provided below, this License shall apply to any derivative work
as it does to the original Software distributed by Illinois. Any derivative
work should be clearly marked and renamed to notify users that it is a
modified version and not the original Software distributed by Illinois.
Licensee agrees to reproduce the copyright notice and other proprietary
markings on any derivative work and to include in the documentation of such
work the acknowledgement:
"This software includes code developed by the Theoretical and Computational
Biophysics Group in the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and
Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign."
Licensee may redistribute without restriction works with up to 1/2 of their
non-comment source code derived from at most 1/10 of the non-comment source
code developed by Illinois and contained in the Software, provided that the
above directions for notice and acknowledgement are observed. Any other
distribution of the Software or any derivative work requires a separate
license with Illinois. Licensee may contact Illinois (vmd@ks.uiuc.edu) to
negotiate an appropriate license for such distribution.
3. Except as expressly set forth in this Agreement, THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED
"AS IS" AND ILLINOIS MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS AND EXTENDS NO WARRANTIES OF
ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES
OR MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR THAT THE USE OF
THE SOFTWARE WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY PATENT, TRADEMARK, OR OTHER RIGHTS.
LICENSEE ASSUMES THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE RESULTS AND PERFORMANCE OF THE
SOFTWARE AND/OR ASSOCIATED MATERIALS. LICENSEE AGREES THAT UNIVERSITY SHALL
NOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT,INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL
DAMAGES WITH RESPECT TO ANY CLAIM BY LICENSEE OR ANY THIRD PARTY ON ACCOUNT
OF OR ARISING FROM THIS AGREEMENT OR USE OF THE SOFTWARE AND/OR ASSOCIATED
MATERIALS.
4. Licensee understands the Software is proprietary to Illinois. Licensee
agrees to take all reasonable steps to insure that the Softwareis
protected and secured from unauthorized disclosure, use, or release and
will treat it with at least the same level of care as Licensee would use to
protect and secure its own proprietary computer programs and/or information,
but using no less than a reasonable standard of care. Licensee agrees to
provide the Software only to any other person or entity who has registered
with Illinois. If licensee is not registering as an individual but as an
institution or corporation each member of the institution or corporation
who has access to or uses Software must agree to and abide by the terms
of this license. If Licensee becomes aware of any unauthorized licensing,
copying or use of the Software, Licensee shall promptly notify Illinois
in writing. Licensee expressly agrees to use the Software only in the
manner and for the specific uses authorized in this Agreement.
5. By using or copying this Software, Licensee agrees to abide by the
copyright law and all other applicable laws of the U.S. including, but not
limited to, export control laws and the terms of this license. Illinois
shall have the right to terminate this license immediately by written
notice upon Licensee's breach of, or non-compliance with, any
terms of the license. Licensee may be held legally responsible for any
copyright infringement that is caused or encouraged by its failure to
abideby the terms of this license. Upon termination, Licensee agrees to
destroyall copies of the Software in its possession and to verify such
destruction in writing.
6. The user agrees that any reports or published results obtained with
the Software will acknowledge its use by the appropriate citation as
follows:
"VMD was developed by the Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group
in the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign."
Any published work which utilizes VMD shall include the following reference:
"Humphrey, W., Dalke, A. and Schulten, K., `VMD -Visual Molecular
Dynamics', J. Molecular Graphics, 1996, vol. 14, pp. 33-38."
Electronic documents will include a direct link to the official VMD page
at http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd/
7. Commercial use of the Software, or derivative works based thereon,
REQUIRES A COMMERCIAL LICENSE. Should Licensee wish to make commercial
use of the Software, Licensee will contact Illinois (vmd@ks.uiuc.edu) to
negotiate an appropriate license for such use. Commercial use includes:
(1) integration of all or part of the Software into a product for sale,
lease or license by or on behalf of Licensee to third parties, or
(2) distribution of the Software to third parties that need it to
commercialize product sold or licensed by or on behalf of Licensee.
8. Government Rights. Because substantial governmental funds have been
used in the development of VMD, any possession, use or sublicense of the
Software by or to the United States government shall be subject to such
required restrictions.
9. VMD is being distributed as a research and teaching tool and as
such, TCBG encourages contributions from users of the code that might, at
Illinois' sole discretion, be used or incorporated to make the basic
operating framework of the Software a more stable, flexible, and/or useful
product. Licensees who contribute their code to become an internal
portion of the Software agree that such code may be distributed by
Illinois under the terms of this License and may be required to sign an
"Agreement Regarding Contributory Code for VMD Software" before Illinois
can accept it (contact vmd@ks.uiuc.edu for a copy).
UNDERSTOOD AND AGREED.
Contact Information:
The best contact path for licensing issues is by e-mail to
vmd@ks.uiuc.edu or send correspondence to:
VMD Team
Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group
Beckman Institute
University of Illinois
405 North Mathews MC-251
Urbana, Illinois 61801 USA