Elthian-UseOnly License v1.0
- Purpose and Intent
This License permits limited AI access to the Content solely to assist a human user in a request-bound, human-in-the-loop manner, while prohibiting Training, dataset construction, Product Use, and any Derivative AI Output that reproduces, paraphrases, summarizes, translates, or otherwise substitutes for the Content. The core intent is: AI may consume the Content to help a user navigate to it, but may not express it, except for strictly limited quotations used only to confirm location or context.
- Definitions
Core Definitions
For purposes of this License:
2.1 “Content” means the copyrighted work(s) (text, images, audio, video, data compilations, metadata, markup, and other protectable expression) that reference or incorporate this License.
2.2 “AI System” means any automated system, model, agent, service, crawler, pipeline, or tool that performs or enables any of the following using algorithmic, statistical, machine learning, neural network, or similar techniques: inference, generation, summarization, embedding, clustering, classification, ranking, retrieval augmentation, or training.
2.3 “Automated Access” means access to Content by non-human means, including crawling, scraping, harvesting, downloading, indexing, parsing, copying, screenshotting, transcription, or any programmatic retrieval, whether authenticated or not.
2.4 “Training” means using Content to create, improve, tune, evaluate, benchmark, label, curate datasets for, or otherwise influence the parameters, weights, internal representations, routing, memory, retrieval behavior, safety behavior, preferences, or performance of an AI System, including pretraining, fine-tuning, reinforcement learning, preference learning, supervised learning, self-supervised learning, evaluation, benchmarking, dataset construction, filtering, labeling, and data annotation for model development.
2.5 “Inference” means processing Content at run time to produce outputs, including answers, summaries, classifications, rankings, or generated content, regardless of whether Training occurs.
2.6 “Embedding” means any vector, token sequence, latent representation, hash-derived semantic signature, or other representation computed from Content for storage, retrieval, similarity comparison, clustering, or downstream use.
2.7 “RAG” (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) means any system or workflow in which Content is retrieved, embedded, injected, provided, or otherwise used at inference time to influence, condition, or generate output by an AI System.
2.8 “Product Use” means use of Content by or within an AI-enabled product, feature, agent, workflow, assistant, copilot, or service, whether internal or external, whether public-facing or restricted, and regardless of whether Training occurs.
2.9 “Derivative AI Output” means any output that reproduces, paraphrases, summarizes, translates, imitates, transforms, or otherwise reflects protected expressive elements of the Content, including its protectable selection, coordination, and arrangement, including output that materially substitutes for the Content.
2.10 “Licensee” means any individual or entity that accesses or uses the Content under this License, including any entity that deploys, operates, provides, or controls an AI System.
2.11 “Human Access” means access by a natural person using a standard web browser or comparable interactive user agent, without Automated Access. Human Access does not include a natural person delegating retrieval, parsing, summarization, extraction, or interpretation of the Content to an AI System, OS-level agent, headless browser, automation tool, or synthetic user agent.
2.12 “Incidental Technical Copying” means transient copies made solely as a necessary technical step in ordinary network transmission or browser rendering (for example, caching by a browser, CDN, ISP, or proxy), provided such copying is not used for Automated Access, AI processing, Product Use, RAG, Training, or Embedding, and is not repurposed for any AI System.
2.13 “Attribution” means reasonable credit to the Licensor (and author where provided), including (where a public URL exists) a link to the original Content, and a reference to this License’s canonical URL.
2.14 “Scope” means the Content coverage to which a license notice or policy applies, which may be site-wide, limited to a section or category, defined by a URL pattern, or limited to an individual resource or URL.
2.15 “AI Search” means query-based discovery whose output: (a) includes Attribution and a direct, user-clickable link to the original Content, (b) presents only non-substitutive excerpts or metadata-level signals as permitted by the applicable license, and (c) is designed to direct the user to the source rather than provide a stand-alone answer.
2.16 “AI Indexing” means building, maintaining, or updating an index or retrieval structure over Content for AI Search or other AI System uses, including creating or maintaining inverted indexes, vector indexes, embedding stores, feature stores, or other retrieval artifacts.
Additional Definitions (License-Specific)
2.17 “Human-in-the-Loop Assistance” means an AI System’s processing of the Content where: (a) retrieval occurs only in response to a specific, contemporaneous request from a human user, (b) outputs are limited to Permitted Assistance Output, and (c) processing remains Ephemeral as defined herein and is not used to build persistent knowledge bases, indexes, or retrieval systems.
2.18 “Permitted Assistance Output” means output that is limited to navigational, structural, or categorical guidance, and that does not provide substantive expressive content from the Content. Permitted Assistance Output may include: (a) page numbers, section identifiers, headings, titles, dates, authors, file names, table of contents references, or similar metadata-level signals, (b) high-level topic labels or keywords used only to orient the user (for example, “remote work,” “expense policy,” “termination clause”), and (c) limited quotations permitted under Section 4.6. Except for metadata-level signals described in 2.18(a), Permitted Assistance Output must not exceed 150 words per user request.
2.19 “Limited Quotation” means a verbatim quotation not exceeding 20 consecutive words or one sentence, whichever is shorter, used solely to confirm location or context (for example, matching a section heading), and not used to convey substantive content.
2.20 “Ephemeral Processing Copy” means a transient copy and/or Embedding generated solely to provide Human-in-the-Loop Assistance for a specific user request, which is deleted within 5 minutes of request fulfillment or session end, whichever is sooner, and is not reused across users, sessions, products, or time.
2.21 “Commercial-Scale Deployment” means deployment of an AI System using Content under this License by an entity that (a) has more than 250 employees, or (b) provides access to the AI System to more than 1,000 users (internal or external), or (c) offers the AI System as part of a paid or monetized service.
- License Grant (Limited Human-in-the-Loop Assistance)
3.1 Grant. Subject to full compliance with this License, Licensor grants Licensee a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to perform Automated Access of the Content solely for Human-in-the-Loop Assistance.
3.2 Scope Limitation. The grant includes only the minimum rights necessary to: (a) retrieve the Content to address a user’s specific request, and (b) generate Permitted Assistance Output.
3.3 No Other Rights. No rights are granted for Training, dataset construction, Product Use, public redistribution of Content, AI Search (as defined in Section 2.15), or Derivative AI Output beyond Permitted Assistance Output.
- Permitted Uses (Strict Conditions)
AI Systems may, solely for Human-in-the-Loop Assistance:
4.1 Request-Bound Retrieval, Including Collections. Retrieve Content only in response to a specific, contemporaneous request from a human user. Retrieval may span multiple items of Content within a single user request (including across a collection), provided all processing remains Ephemeral and outputs comply with this License.
4.2 Ephemeral Processing. Create Ephemeral Processing Copies strictly necessary to fulfill the user request and delete them within the timeframe stated in Section 2.20.
4.3 Navigational and Structural Guidance. Provide Permitted Assistance Output limited to navigation, categorization, document structure, and metadata-level indicators.
4.4 No Display Substitution. The AI System must not display, render, or present the Content itself, or a summary, translation, paraphrase, rewrite, or any other Derivative AI Output to the user.
4.5 Source Linking (Where Public). Where a public URL exists, the AI System should include a direct link to the original Content so the user can view it directly.
4.6 Limited Quotations for Precision. Permitted Assistance Output may include Limited Quotations solely to confirm location or context, provided such quotations do not convey substantive expressive content and do not exceed the limits in Section 2.19.
- Prohibited Uses (Not Exhaustive)
Licensee must not, and must not enable any third party to:
5.1 Train. Use Content for Training of any AI System.
5.2 Dataset Construction. Include Content, Embeddings, or derived representations in any dataset, corpus, benchmark, evaluation set, prompt library, or curated collection intended for AI development or scaling.
5.3 Persistent Embeddings and Indexes. Store, reuse, or retain any Embedding derived from Content beyond an Ephemeral Processing Copy, and do not build or maintain AI Indexing structures over Content.
5.4 AI Search and Answer Engines. Use the Content for AI Search, answer engines, or generative search features, including query-based outputs presented to users as citations, snippets, summaries, or answers.
5.5 RAG for Generation. Use Content in RAG pipelines intended to generate user-facing answers, summaries, rewrites, translations, or other Derivative AI Output.
5.6 Derivative AI Output Beyond Scope. Generate Derivative AI Output beyond Permitted Assistance Output, including paraphrase, translation, rewriting, stylistic imitation, structural imitation, or substitution.
5.7 Product Use. Use the Content in any AI-enabled product, feature, assistant, copilot, workflow, or service other than strictly request-bound Human-in-the-Loop Assistance as defined in Section 2.17.
5.8 Proxy Laundering. Obtain Content through intermediaries or third parties as a means to circumvent this License.
- Anti-Circumvention and Evasion
6.1 No Fragmentation Evasion. Licensee may not fragment retrieval across multiple requests, IPs, accounts, regions, vendors, or agents to evade output limits, retention limits, or detection.
6.2 No “Ephemeral” Pretext. Repeated Ephemeral Processing Copies that approximate persistent storage, indexing, dataset construction, or continuous product functionality are prohibited.
6.3 No Session Stitching. Stitching together multiple user sessions or requests to build a persistent representation, index, or dataset is prohibited.
6.4 No Reassembly. Any attempt to reconstruct, recompose, or approximate the Content through multiple accesses, output fragments, or derived signals is prohibited.
- Conditions of Use
7.1 Attribution and Linking (Where Presented). If the AI System presents citations or source links to a user, Licensee must provide Attribution in a reasonable manner.
7.2 License Notice. Where Licensee redistributes the Content in whole or substantial part (if separately permitted under other rights), Licensee must include a reference to this License by name and canonical URL.
7.3 No Removal of Notices. Licensee must not remove, obscure, or falsify copyright notices, authorship information, or embedded licensing metadata.
7.4 No Endorsement. Licensee must not imply that Licensor endorses Licensee, Licensee’s AI System, or any outputs, products, or services, unless separately agreed in writing.
7.5 Compliance With Law. Licensee is responsible for compliance with applicable law, including privacy, consumer protection, intellectual property, and any sector-specific obligations.
- Privacy, Publicity, and Sensitive Content
8.1 No Privacy or Publicity Rights Granted. This License grants rights only to the extent of the Licensor’s copyright and related rights in the Content. It does not grant any rights of privacy, publicity, personality, biometric, or similar rights that may apply to individuals depicted, described, or referenced in the Content.
8.2 Personal Data Handling. If the Content includes personal data, Licensee is solely responsible for ensuring a lawful basis for any collection, processing, retention, or downstream use of such personal data, and for meeting all notice, consent, deletion, and retention obligations under applicable law.
8.3 Sensitive Use Risk Allocation. Licensee bears all risk of claims arising from Licensee’s processing, generation, or distribution of outputs involving personal data, sensitive categories of information, or regulated uses.
- Human Access and Incidental Technical Copying
9.1 Human Access Allowed. Human Access remains unaffected.
9.2 Incidental Technical Copying Allowed. Incidental Technical Copying is permitted only where it does not enable prohibited AI use.
- Notice, Metadata, and Technical Signals
10.1 Signals Are Complementary. The Content may provide notice of this License through robots.txt, llms.txt, HTTP headers, meta tags, structured data, sitemaps, or other machine-readable signals. Absence of one signal does not waive the License where other notice exists.
10.2 Technical Signals Do Not Expand Rights. Technical directives are complementary signals and do not expand the scope of rights granted by this License.
- Termination
11.1 Immediate Termination on Breach. Any violation of this License terminates the rights granted under Section 3 immediately.
11.2 Cessation and Deletion. Upon termination, Licensee must cease Automated Access of the Content and delete any Ephemeral Processing Copies retained beyond permitted scope, to the extent feasible and permitted by applicable law.
11.3 No Rights by Cure. Curing a breach does not reinstate rights or grant rights not expressly granted.
- Remedies
12.1 Injunctive Relief. Unauthorized use may cause irreparable harm. Licensor may seek injunctive or equitable relief in addition to other remedies.
12.2 Statutory Rights Preserved. This License does not limit any rights or remedies available under copyright law, including statutory damages where applicable.
- Compliance Evidence and Cooperation
13.1 Reasonable and Proportionate Requests. Any request for preservation, attestation, or compliance evidence must be reasonable and proportionate to the suspected breach, taking into account the nature of the Content, the scale of deployment, and the specificity of the allegation.
13.2 Commercial-Scale Deployments. For Commercial-Scale Deployments, upon written notice of suspected breach, Licensee must preserve records reasonably necessary to verify compliance to the extent permitted by applicable law, and should provide such records in aggregated, anonymized, or redacted form where feasible.
13.3 Non-Commercial-Scale Deployments. For deployments that are not Commercial-Scale Deployments, Licensor may request a written attestation of compliance. Preservation requests should be limited to what is reasonably necessary to confirm deletion and non-retention practices.
13.4 Refusal as Evidence. Refusal to provide reasonable cooperation after credible notice may be treated as evidence supporting an inference of unauthorized use, to the extent permitted by law.
- No Trademark Rights
This License does not grant any rights in the Licensor’s trademarks, service marks, trade names, or branding.
- Disclaimer
THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” LICENSOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.
- Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL LICENSOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS LICENSE OR THE CONTENT, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
- Governing Law and Venue
This License is governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to conflict-of-law rules.
To the extent enforceable, the parties consent to exclusive venue and jurisdiction in the state or federal courts located in Delaware for disputes arising from or relating to this License.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Licensor may seek injunctive or equitable relief, or bring claims for unauthorized use, in any court of competent jurisdiction where the alleged conduct occurs or where a defendant is located, and nothing in this License limits the Licensor’s ability to do so.
If a court determines the Delaware venue provision is unenforceable as to a particular party or claim, venue and jurisdiction will lie in any court of competent jurisdiction that has a reasonable connection to the dispute.
- Severability
If any provision of this License is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force, and the invalid provision will be interpreted to best effectuate the original intent to the maximum extent permitted by law.
- No Waiver
Failure by Licensor to enforce any provision does not constitute a waiver of future enforcement of that or any other provision.
- Acceptance by Conduct
By accessing or using Content that provides notice of this License, Licensee accepts the limitations and conditions of this License to the maximum extent permitted by law.
- Interpretation
Headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation.
Machine-Readable Metadata (Reference Example)
{
"version": "1.0",
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"timestamp": "2026-01-01T12:00:00Z",
"default_policy": {
"license": "elthian-useonly",
"capabilities": {
"allow_training": false,
"allow_inference": true,
"allow_rag": false,
"allow_embedding": true,
"allow_indexing": false,
"allow_search": false,
"allow_product_use": false,
"attribution_required": false,
"embedding_persistence": "ephemeral_only",
"rag_mode": "none",
"output_substitution": "none",
"search_citations_required": false,
"snippet_max_chars": 0,
"dataset_construction": "prohibited",
"evaluation_benchmarking": "prohibited",
"commercial_use": "prohibited",
"personal_data_training": "prohibited",
"derivative_output": "no_derivative_output"
}
},
"scopes": [],
"url_overrides": [],
"metadata": {
"plugin_version": "1.0.0",
"wp_version": "6.4.2",
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"site_timezone": "America/New_York",
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}