DVAI BRIDGE COMMUNITY LICENCE
Version 1.0 — "DVAI-BCL v1.0"
Copyright (c) 2026 Deep Voice AI Limited (Company No. 16743132)
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NOTICE TO USER
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This is the legal text of the DVAI Bridge Community Licence ("DVAI-BCL v1.0",
or "this Licence"). DVAI Bridge is source-available software developed by Deep
Voice AI Limited, a company incorporated in England and Wales with registered
number 16743132 ("Licensor", "we", "us"). Anyone may read, modify, build, and
redistribute this software under the terms set out below.
You may use DVAI Bridge free of charge for Permitted Uses (defined below).
Commercial Use of DVAI Bridge requires a separate Commercial Licence from us.
On the Change Date specified below, each Released Version of DVAI Bridge
automatically converts to the Apache License, Version 2.0 ("Apache 2.0"). The
conversion is irrevocable and is the structural commitment by which we
guarantee the eventual full open-source availability of DVAI Bridge.
This Licence is loosely modelled on the Business Source License 1.1 (BSL 1.1)
published by MariaDB Corporation Ab, with significant customisations to
support DVAI's dual-licensing commercial model, defined Permitted Uses, and
patent grant. It is not a Business Source License and the Licensor License
Grant in BSL 1.1 has been replaced.
A plain-language summary of this Licence is published at
https://deepvoiceai.co/licensing. The summary is informational only; this
file is the legally binding instrument.
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DEFINITIONS
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In this Licence the following definitions apply:
"Apache 2.0" means the Apache License, Version 2.0 published by the Apache
Software Foundation and available at https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0,
together with the corresponding NOTICE-file conventions.
"Change Date" means, in respect of a Released Version, the date that is three
(3) years after the Public Release Date of that Released Version, as recorded
in the Change Date Register published in the source repository (file
CHANGE_DATE.md). On and after the Change Date for a Released Version, that
Released Version automatically and irrevocably converts to Apache 2.0.
"Commercial Licence" means a separate written commercial licence agreement
issued by the Licensor authorising Commercial Use, on the commercial terms
published from time to time at https://deepvoiceai.co/licensing or
individually negotiated with the Licensor.
"Commercial Use" means any use of DVAI Bridge in or in connection with a
product, service, or activity that generates revenue, including without
limitation:
(a) integration of DVAI Bridge into a product or service that you sell,
license, host, or otherwise make available to third parties for value;
(b) provision of inference services, AI services, or hosted offerings to
third parties using DVAI Bridge;
(c) use of DVAI Bridge by, or for the benefit of, any organisation that
generates revenue from any commercial offering in which DVAI Bridge is
a component (whether or not DVAI Bridge itself is monetised
separately).
Commercial Use does not include any of the Permitted Uses defined below.
"DVAI Bridge" means the software in the source repository at
https://github.com/dvai-global/dvai-bridge ("the Repository"), including the
source code, build outputs, language-binding packages, and any documentation
distributed alongside it, in each case as published by the Licensor.
"Licence" means this DVAI Bridge Community Licence v1.0 in its entirety,
together with the NOTICE file in the Repository.
"Permitted Use" means each of the following uses of DVAI Bridge, in each case
free of charge and free of any obligation to enter into a Commercial Licence:
(a) Personal use — use of DVAI Bridge by an individual for personal,
non-commercial purposes, including hobby projects, personal-learning
builds, and experimentation outside the scope of any commercial
activity;
(b) Educational use — use of DVAI Bridge in teaching, coursework, training
materials, student projects, and other educational activities of an
educational institution or a teacher acting in that capacity;
(c) Academic research — use of DVAI Bridge in academic research the outputs
of which are intended for publication, dissemination, or peer review,
where DVAI Bridge is referenced or cited in the resulting outputs;
(d) Evaluation — use of DVAI Bridge by an organisation for a period not
exceeding ninety (90) consecutive days for the purpose of evaluating
whether to enter into a Commercial Licence;
(e) Internal-only use — use of DVAI Bridge by an organisation for purely
internal purposes, where the capability provided by DVAI Bridge is not
distributed to, used by, or made available to any third party outside
the organisation, and is not used to generate revenue from any
external party;
(f) Contribution — use of DVAI Bridge in connection with the preparation,
testing, and submission of contributions to the Repository, subject to
the Licensor's then-current Contributor Licence Agreement.
"Public Release Date" means, in respect of a Released Version, the date on
which the Licensor first made that Released Version generally available to the
public through the Repository (typically the date of the corresponding Git
tag), as recorded in the Change Date Register (file CHANGE_DATE.md).
"Released Version" means a specific version of DVAI Bridge made publicly
available by the Licensor through the Repository, identified by a Git tag
matching the pattern "v<MAJOR>.<MINOR>.<PATCH>" or any successor versioning
scheme published by the Licensor.
"You" (or "Your") means the natural person or legal entity exercising the
rights granted by this Licence. For legal entities, "You" includes each
entity that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with that
entity.
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1. GRANT OF LICENCE FOR PERMITTED USE
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1.1 Subject to Your compliance with the terms of this Licence, the Licensor
hereby grants You a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, non-transferable,
non-sublicensable, revocable (only as expressly stated in Sections 7 and 8)
copyright licence to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly
display, publicly perform, and distribute DVAI Bridge for Permitted Use.
1.2 The Licence in Section 1.1 includes the right to modify DVAI Bridge and
to redistribute DVAI Bridge (in original or modified form) provided that:
(a) every copy and every derivative work redistributed by You is distributed
under, and accompanied by, the unmodified text of this Licence;
(b) every copy and every derivative work retains all copyright, attribution,
and other proprietary notices appearing in the original;
(c) any redistribution is accompanied by the unmodified text of the NOTICE
file as published in the Repository at the time of redistribution; and
(d) the redistribution itself is for a Permitted Use, or is performed in a
manner that does not involve Commercial Use by You.
1.3 The Licence in Section 1.1 does not authorise Commercial Use. If You wish
to use DVAI Bridge for any Commercial Use, You must first obtain a Commercial
Licence from the Licensor. Information about how to obtain a Commercial
Licence is published at https://deepvoiceai.co/licensing and may be requested
by email to info@deepvoiceai.co.
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2. AUTOMATIC CONVERSION ON THE CHANGE DATE
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2.1 On and after the Change Date for a Released Version, that Released
Version (including all source code, build outputs, and documentation included
in that Released Version) automatically and irrevocably converts to Apache 2.0.
2.2 The conversion in Section 2.1 means that, on and after the Change Date,
the Released Version may be used, copied, modified, distributed, and used for
any Commercial Use without a Commercial Licence and without obligation to the
Licensor, subject only to the terms of Apache 2.0.
2.3 The conversion is per Released Version. Released Versions that have not
yet reached their Change Date remain subject to this Licence. Each subsequent
Released Version is subject to this Licence for its own three-year period
before independently converting to Apache 2.0.
2.4 The Change Date for each Released Version is recorded in the Change Date
Register in the Repository (file CHANGE_DATE.md). The Licensor commits that
once a Change Date has been recorded in the Change Date Register, the Change
Date will not be moved backwards (made later) by any subsequent revision of
this Licence or any other instrument.
2.5 The Bridge Attribution requirements in Section 4 cease to apply to a
Released Version on and after its Change Date. The standard NOTICE-file
conventions of Apache 2.0 continue to apply.
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3. GRANT OF PATENT LICENCE
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3.1 Subject to the terms and conditions of this Licence, the Licensor hereby
grants You a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, non-transferable,
non-sublicensable patent licence under the Licensor's Patent Rights to make,
have made, use, import, sell, offer to sell, and otherwise dispose of DVAI
Bridge solely for Permitted Use.
3.2 "Patent Rights" means the patent claims owned or controlled by the
Licensor (including, without limitation, the claims of UK Patent Application
GB2611312.6 once granted) that, but for this grant, would be infringed by use
of DVAI Bridge as originally distributed by the Licensor.
3.3 The patent licence in Section 3.1 does not extend to Commercial Use.
Patent rights for Commercial Use are granted only under a separate Commercial
Licence.
3.4 If You institute patent litigation (including a cross-claim or
counterclaim in a lawsuit) against any entity alleging that DVAI Bridge
constitutes direct or contributory patent infringement, then any patent
licences granted to You under this Section 3 shall terminate as of the date
such litigation is filed, without prejudice to any other remedy the Licensor
may have.
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4. BRIDGE ATTRIBUTION MARK
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4.1 When You exercise the licence in Section 1, You shall:
(a) retain in the source code of DVAI Bridge the copyright notice, this
Licence text, and the NOTICE file unmodified;
(b) where DVAI Bridge is incorporated into a build artefact (including a
published package, binary, container image, or installable application),
reproduce the substance of the copyright notice and a reference to this
Licence in a place reasonably accessible to recipients of that artefact
(for example, an About box, a credits file, a licensing page, or
documentation distributed with the artefact); and
(c) not remove or obscure the "Powered by DVAI Bridge" attribution mark, or
its equivalent in any localised form, in any user-visible or developer-
visible interface in which it is present in DVAI Bridge as distributed
by the Licensor.
4.2 The Bridge Attribution Mark may be removed from a build artefact only by
a Commercial Licensee under the terms of their Commercial Licence with the
Licensor. Removal of the Bridge Attribution Mark in the absence of a
Commercial Licence is a material breach of this Licence.
4.3 The Bridge Attribution Mark requirements cease to apply to a Released
Version on and after its Change Date.
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5. TRADEMARKS
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5.1 Nothing in this Licence grants You any right to use the trademarks of
the Licensor or its affiliates, including without limitation "Deep Voice AI",
"DVAI", "DVAI Bridge", or the corresponding logos and stylisations
(collectively, "Licensor Marks"), other than:
(a) reproduction of the Licensor Marks as part of the unmodified copyright
notices, NOTICE file, and Bridge Attribution Mark as required by
Section 4;
(b) descriptive use of the Licensor Marks in factual references such as
"based on DVAI Bridge" or "compatible with DVAI Bridge", provided that
such use is accurate, does not suggest endorsement by the Licensor of
any third-party product, and does not use the Licensor Marks in a
stylised, dominant, or distinctive manner that would create a
likelihood of confusion as to source.
5.2 Trademark rights of third parties referenced in DVAI Bridge or in the
NOTICE file (including without limitation "Apple", "Android", "Google",
"Microsoft", "Capacitor", "React Native", "Flutter", ".NET", "iOS",
"macOS") are the property of their respective owners and are reserved.
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6. NO WARRANTY
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DVAI BRIDGE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY
WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE LICENSOR DOES NOT WARRANT THAT DVAI
BRIDGE WILL BE ERROR-FREE, UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR THAT IT WILL MEET YOUR
REQUIREMENTS. ANY USE BY YOU OF DVAI BRIDGE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.
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7. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
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7.1 To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the Licensor shall
not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or
exemplary damages, including without limitation loss of profits, reputation, revenue,
business, data, or goodwill, arising out of or in connection with this
Licence or Your use of DVAI Bridge, even if the Licensor has been advised of
the possibility of such damages.
7.2 To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the aggregate
liability of the Licensor arising out of or in connection with this Licence
and Your use of DVAI Bridge shall not exceed one hundred pounds sterling
(GBP 100). For Permitted Use, this Licence is provided to You free of
charge; this limitation reflects the absence of any consideration paid by
You to the Licensor for the licence granted here.
7.3 Nothing in this Licence excludes or limits liability for death or
personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent
misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot be excluded or
limited as a matter of applicable law.
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8. TERMINATION
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8.1 This Licence terminates automatically and without notice upon any
material breach by You of its terms, including without limitation:
(a) Commercial Use of DVAI Bridge without a Commercial Licence;
(b) removal or modification of the copyright notice, this Licence text, the
NOTICE file, or the Bridge Attribution Mark contrary to Section 4;
(c) institution by You of patent litigation in the circumstances described
in Section 3.4.
8.2 On termination under Section 8.1, You shall immediately cease all use of
DVAI Bridge, delete all copies of DVAI Bridge in Your possession, and procure
that any third party to whom You have redistributed DVAI Bridge does the
same.
8.3 If Your breach is curable and is in fact cured within thirty (30) days of
written notice from the Licensor, the Licensor may at its discretion
reinstate the Licence as if the breach had not occurred. Reinstatement is at
the Licensor's sole discretion.
8.4 Sections 3.4, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10 survive termination of this Licence.
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9. RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER AGREEMENTS
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9.1 This Licence applies only to Released Versions for the period from the
Public Release Date to the Change Date. On and after the Change Date for a
Released Version, that Released Version is governed exclusively by Apache 2.0
and this Licence has no further application to that Released Version, save
that the patent termination provisions of Section 3.4 continue to apply to
the conduct of any party that institutes patent litigation as described in
that Section.
9.2 A Commercial Licence supersedes this Licence as between the Licensor and
the Commercial Licensee in respect of the uses authorised by the Commercial
Licence. This Licence continues to apply to all other uses of DVAI Bridge by
the Commercial Licensee not authorised by the Commercial Licence.
9.3 Contributors to DVAI Bridge are subject to the Licensor's Contributor
Licence Agreement ("CLA") in addition to this Licence. The CLA is published
at https://deepvoiceai.co/cla.
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10. GOVERNING LAW
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10.1 This Licence is governed by and construed in accordance with the law of
England and Wales.
10.2 The courts of England and Wales have non-exclusive jurisdiction to
settle any dispute arising out of or in connection with this Licence.
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11. CONTACT
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For all enquiries about this Licence, including Commercial Licence enquiries,
contact info@deepvoiceai.co.
Deep Voice AI Limited
71-75 Shelton Street
Covent Garden
London WC2H 9JQ
United Kingdom
Company No. 16743132
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END OF DVAI BRIDGE COMMUNITY LICENCE v1.0
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NOTE ON LEGAL REVIEW
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This Licence text has been prepared by the Licensor and is the legally
binding instrument under which DVAI Bridge is distributed. The Licensor recommends
that counsel competent in the law of England and Wales be consulted prior to
substantive variation of this text or before entering into any Commercial
Licence based on this Licence's framework.