# LAVS-001 licensing

| | |
|---|---|
| **Status** | Adopted |
| **Version** | 1.0 |
| **Date** | 2026-05-27 |
| **Pricing review window** | First scheduled review after 12 months of market signal (2027-05-27) |
| **Applies to** | LAVS-001 spec + reference implementation + LavosMotionEngine |
| **Document license** | CC BY 4.0 |

This document defines who can use what under which terms across the LAVS ecosystem. It is the single source of truth for any commercial conversation; questions answered here do not require legal review per transaction.

The structure is three-layered, deliberately. Each layer has a distinct license. Understanding which layer your use case touches is the first step in answering "what do I need to pay for?"

---

## 1. The three-layer split

### Layer 1: The LAVS-001 specification (CC BY 4.0)

**License:** [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

**Scope:** the file format itself. The text of `LAVS-001.md`, the property assignments in `property-table.toml`, the encoding primitives, the conformance criteria, the byte layouts.

**What you can do without asking or paying:**

- Implement an encoder in any language.
- Implement a decoder in any language.
- Implement a runtime (rendering engine) in any language.
- Implement a viewer, marketplace tool, signature verifier, badge generator, or any other tool that consumes or produces `.lavs` files.
- Distribute your implementation under any license you choose (MIT, AGPL, proprietary, commercial — your choice).
- Build on, extend, fork, or supersede the spec.

**Required attribution:** the spec and its derivatives must credit "Project Lavos LLC" as the spec author. Standard CC BY 4.0 attribution language is sufficient.

**The spec is the moat for nobody.** It is published openly precisely because the format becomes valuable when it is widely implemented. Any party — individual, company, competitor — is welcome to build LAVS-001 tooling.

### Layer 2: The reference implementation (proprietary)

**License:** Proprietary, all rights reserved. Commercial licenses available — see §3 below.

**Scope:** the TypeScript reference implementation in the [`lavs-format`](https://github.com/guitargnarr/lavs-format) repository. Specifically:

- `src/format/` — reference encoder, decoder, fast-path edition reader, signing helpers, CRC32 and LEB128 primitives.
- `src/runtime/` — Three.js-based runtime that walks a decoded scene and produces a renderable scene tree.
- `src/engine/` — `LavosMotionEngine` hybrid loader, manifest, adapters for `.lavs` and `.riv`.
- `scripts/` — build pipeline, content-hashing, example generators, conformance suite tooling.
- `viewer/` — demo viewer application.
- The example `.lavs` files in `examples/` (each carries its own per-edition license in the edition block per Layer 3 below; the bytes themselves are reference artifacts and not freely redistributable as part of the reference implementation).

**What you can do without a commercial license:**

- Read the source for educational or research purposes.
- Reference patterns from the implementation in your own from-scratch reimplementation, provided you do not copy source code verbatim.
- Fork the repository for the purpose of submitting issues, pull requests, or bug reports back to Project Lavos LLC. (Pull requests imply you grant Project Lavos LLC the right to incorporate your contribution under the existing proprietary license.)

**What requires a commercial license:**

- Using any source code from this implementation in a product, application, or service you ship.
- Bundling the implementation (in source or compiled form) with software you distribute.
- Hosting the implementation as a service available to third parties.
- Removing or obscuring the copyright notices.

### Layer 3: Sealed `.lavs` editions (per-edition license)

**License:** each `.lavs` file's edition block carries its own `license` field (property 705), set at sealing time.

**Scope:** an individual sealed Lavos edition (e.g., `cube.lavs`, `mobius.lavs`).

**Mechanism:** the producer chooses the license at signing time. Common choices:

- `CC-BY-4.0` for editions intended for wide reuse.
- `CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0` for editions that are signed numbered copies (no derivatives, no commercial use without negotiation).
- `All-Rights-Reserved` for editions sold under bespoke per-buyer terms.
- `TEST-NOT-FOR-DISTRIBUTION` for substrate-validation test artifacts (per `EDITIONS.md` §6).

**Verification:** the `license` string in the edition block is the authoritative declaration. Marketplace tools, gallery viewers, and verifiers SHOULD surface this license in the edition badge so buyers can read it before purchase.

The Layer 3 license operates independently of Layer 1 and Layer 2. A `.lavs` file licensed `CC-BY-4.0` does NOT grant any rights over the reference implementation that produced or renders it; conversely, a commercial license to the reference implementation does NOT grant any rights over the individual editions sealed by that implementation.

---

## 2. Why a three-layer split

The Layer 1 / Layer 2 / Layer 3 separation is the format's commercial strategy made explicit.

- **Layer 1 must be open.** A binary format with one implementation is a vendor extension, not a standard. CC BY 4.0 makes it credibly implementable by parties who would never sign a commercial agreement with Project Lavos LLC. The format becomes a category, not a product.
- **Layer 2 must be proprietary.** The reference implementation embodies design decisions, optimizations, and integration patterns that took real engineering to figure out. Charging for the reference implementation funds the spec's ongoing maintenance — including the [conformance suite](https://lavos-pubkey.projectlavos.com/conformance.md), the [tutorial](https://lavos-pubkey.projectlavos.com/tutorial.md), and the [implementer FAQ](https://lavos-pubkey.projectlavos.com/implementer-faq.md), all of which are CC BY 4.0 and therefore must be subsidized.
- **Layer 3 is the artist's surface.** Each signed `.lavs` edition is an authored artifact. The license travels in the file's edition block so buyers know exactly what they bought. This is the per-edition control surface that makes "limited numbered copies" semantically meaningful (per `EDITIONS.md` §2).

A third-party implementer who builds an alternative LAVS-001 runtime from the spec alone — without touching Layer 2 — owes Project Lavos LLC nothing for the implementation. That is the design.

---

## 3. Commercial license tiers for the reference implementation (Layer 2)

The reference implementation is licensed under standard, repeatable terms. Pricing is set per-tier; no per-transaction negotiation is required for tiers that match standard use cases. Custom integrations and on-site support are out of scope (see §5).

### Tier A: Individual Developer License

**Audience:** a single individual developer building a product or service that uses the reference implementation.

**Terms:**

- One named developer per license.
- Source code access (full repository).
- Right to bundle the implementation (source or compiled) into products distributed by the named developer.
- No restriction on the developer's customers (the developer's customers do not separately need this license).
- License is transferable to a new named developer with 30 days' notice; not concurrently transferable (one developer at a time per license).

**Price: $250 USD per year.** ~$21/month equivalent. Priced to be absorbable by any working developer's annual tool budget without management approval — comparable to Rive's individual subscription ($240/year), well under Houdini Indie ($269), under most commercial-PBR-asset annual fees. Buying the license is meaningful enough to signal commitment without being a budgetary obstacle.

### Tier B: Team / Studio License

**Audience:** a small commercial team (≤10 developers) building products or services that use the reference implementation.

**Terms:**

- Up to 10 named developers per license.
- All Tier A rights apply per developer.
- Single annual invoice for the team.
- Developer list updateable monthly; the count cap is enforced; substitution requires 30 days' notice.

**Price: $1,500 USD per year.** 6× Tier A, not 10× — small teams get a per-seat discount because the friction of buying multiple Tier A licenses is real. At the 10-developer cap, the effective per-seat price is $150/year, materially below Tier A. Below Tier B's cap, the per-seat math favors teams further; a 4-person studio pays $375/dev/year, still cheaper than 4× Tier A would be. The structure rewards consolidation into the team license.

### Tier C: Enterprise License

**Audience:** organizations with > 10 developers, or organizations with redistribution requirements that exceed Tier B's scope.

**Terms:**

- Unlimited named developers within the licensed organization.
- Right to embed the implementation in software distributed by the organization.
- Right to host the implementation as a service consumed by the organization's customers.
- Annual maintenance + support included for one named technical contact.
- License covers organizational use; corporate restructuring (merger, acquisition, divestiture) requires written notice but does not invalidate the license.

**Price: $7,500 USD per year.** 5× Tier B. The pricing reflects the broader use rights and the operational overhead of enterprise procurement (longer contract cycles, security reviews, audit cooperation, named technical contact). Below the 5-figure psychological threshold so a senior engineering manager can approve without escalating to procurement; above the team tier so it's clearly the broader-rights option.

For organizations with annual revenue > $50 million attributable to products using the implementation, custom enterprise terms apply — contact for quote. The standard Tier C price assumes the organization is using LAVS as one component of a larger product, not as the load-bearing substrate of a $100M+ revenue line.

### Tier D: Per-Edition License (for content sellers)

**Audience:** marketplace operators, gallery platforms, or anyone selling individual `.lavs` editions to end customers, where the underlying delivery infrastructure relies on the reference implementation.

**Terms:**

- Per-edition royalty paid on each `.lavs` file sold through the licensed platform.
- Includes the right to host and serve the reference viewer or any derivative viewer the platform builds.
- Per-edition royalty is paid in arrears, reported quarterly.
- Audit right: Project Lavos LLC may audit the platform's edition-sale records once per year with 30 days' notice.
- Annual minimum guarantee: $1,000 USD per year, credited against royalty earnings.

**Royalty rate: 2% of gross sale price per edition.** Below Foundation's 5% creator fee + 5% marketplace cut; below fxhash's 10% primary-sale fee; below ArtBlocks' 10%. The intent: the LAVS royalty pays for the runtime infrastructure underneath; the marketplace charges its own fee for being the platform. A marketplace can adopt LAVS without restructuring its existing fee schedule — the 2% is absorbed into operating costs.

The annual minimum ($1,000) protects against marketplaces with negligible LAVS-specific volume paying nothing for the right to host the reference viewer. A platform doing $50,000/year in LAVS edition sales pays the 2% royalty ($1,000) exactly; the minimum binds only when volume is below that threshold.

For platforms with > $500,000/year in LAVS-specific sales, custom enterprise pricing applies — contact for quote.

### Tier E: Personal / Non-Commercial Use

**Audience:** individuals using the reference implementation for personal projects, learning, academic research, or non-commercial open-source projects.

**Terms:**

- No license fee. Free use under the following conditions:
  - The user's project is not sold, monetized via advertising, or used to generate revenue.
  - The user does not bundle the implementation into a product distributed to commercial parties.
  - The user preserves the copyright notices and the link to this licensing document.
- Use under this tier does not include support; questions are answered by community channels (see [`COMMUNITY.md`](./COMMUNITY.md)) on a best-effort basis.

**Price:** $0.

---

## 4. Standard terms (applies to all tiers above)

These are the bedrock contract terms. They apply uniformly across Tier A through Tier E.

### 4.1 Definitions

- **"Implementation"** means the proprietary source code in the `lavs-format` repository at [github.com/guitargnarr/lavs-format](https://github.com/guitargnarr/lavs-format), explicitly excluding files in `spec/`, `examples/`, and any file licensed CC BY 4.0 by its own terms.
- **"Licensee"** means the individual or organization holding a current valid license under §3.
- **"Project Lavos LLC"** means Project Lavos LLC, a Kentucky limited liability company, the licensor.

### 4.2 Grant

Project Lavos LLC grants the Licensee a non-exclusive, non-transferable (except as noted in §3), worldwide license to use the Implementation under the terms applicable to the Licensee's tier (§3) for the duration of the license term.

### 4.3 Restrictions

Licensee **MUST NOT**:

- Sublicense the Implementation to third parties (other than as part of a product distributed under the Licensee's own license).
- Remove or obscure copyright notices, trademark notices, or this licensing document's references.
- Use the Implementation to develop a competing product whose primary purpose is to replace or undermine the LAVS-001 ecosystem's reference engine.
- Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to derive the source code from compiled or obfuscated artifacts beyond what the Implementation already provides as source.

### 4.4 Warranty disclaimer

The Implementation is provided "as is." Project Lavos LLC warrants only that it has the right to license the Implementation. Project Lavos LLC disclaims all other warranties, express or implied, including merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.

### 4.5 Limitation of liability

In no event will Project Lavos LLC be liable for any indirect, consequential, special, exemplary, or punitive damages arising out of or in connection with the Implementation. Project Lavos LLC's total liability is limited to the fees paid by the Licensee in the 12 months preceding the claim.

### 4.6 Termination

Either party may terminate the license for material breach upon 30 days' written notice if the breach is not cured. On termination, the Licensee must stop using the Implementation and remove it from products under active development. Editions previously sealed under the Implementation remain valid; the Licensee's continued use of those editions for the agreed purpose (display, distribution, resale per the per-edition license) is not affected by termination of the Implementation license.

### 4.7 Governing law

Kentucky law governs. Disputes are heard in the courts of Jefferson County, Kentucky.

---

## 5. What's NOT covered

The standard tiers above explicitly do not include:

- **Custom integration work** — bespoke decoder/encoder builds for non-standard platforms (game consoles, native Unity/Unreal importers). Available as a separate engagement; contact for quote.
- **On-site support** — in-person engineering at the Licensee's location. Available as a separate engagement.
- **Spec extensions on demand** — a Licensee asking for a new Core type, property ID, or wire-type extension to fit their use case. Project Lavos LLC will consider the request on its merits but is not obligated to add features for any specific Licensee.
- **Indemnification against third-party claims** — Project Lavos LLC does not indemnify Licensees against claims brought by third parties (e.g., patent infringement claims, trademark claims). Licensees retain responsibility for their own product's defense.
- **Cryptographic key custody** — Project Lavos LLC does not manage Licensee signing keys. Licensees provision and rotate their own keys per the procedures in [`KEYS.md`](./KEYS.md).

---

## 6. How to purchase

The current contact for commercial license inquiries is `editions@projectlavos.com` (placeholder — will be updated when the operational email is provisioned). A signed license is required before commercial use of the Implementation; license confirmations are issued within 5 business days of payment receipt.

The standard purchase process is:

1. Licensee identifies their tier (§3).
2. Licensee submits the tier, term length, and named developer/organization details to the contact address.
3. Project Lavos LLC returns a signed license agreement, an invoice, and a delivery method for the source-code access (GitHub repository invite, signed Git commit access, or other agreed method).
4. Licensee pays the invoice.
5. Licensee is added to the license registry; the developer or organization is now authorized to use the Implementation under the agreed tier.

For Tier E (Personal / Non-Commercial), no purchase is required. The Licensee may begin using the Implementation immediately under the conditions in §3 Tier E.

---

## 7. Pricing rationale and review

The prices in §3 reflect v1.0 launch positioning. They are calibrated against three constraints:

1. **Comparables.** Tier A ($250/year) is in the range of individual creative-software annual subscriptions: Rive ($240), Houdini Indie ($269), Cinema 4D individual (~$720), Marvelous Designer ($280). The mid-point in that range is where LAVS sits — premium enough to signal commercial value, accessible enough that any working developer can buy without management approval.
2. **Per-seat gradients.** Tier B's $1,500 sits at 6× Tier A, intentionally below 10× so that a 5-7 person studio gets a meaningful discount per seat ($375–$214 per dev) versus stacking Tier A licenses. Tier C's $7,500 sits at 5× Tier B for unlimited developers + support — the multiplier reflects organizational use rights, not per-seat math.
3. **Royalty floor.** Tier D's 2% is below every marketplace standard (Foundation 5%, fxhash 10%, ArtBlocks 10%) so the LAVS royalty doesn't stack atop the marketplace's own fee structure. The $1,000 annual minimum is the floor below which administrative overhead of the licensing relationship exceeds the revenue.

### 7.1 Pricing review

Prices are reviewed annually. The first formal review is scheduled for **2027-05-27** (one year from this document's adoption date). Material price changes apply to new licenses; existing Licensees retain their current price for the duration of their license term, with the new price taking effect at renewal.

Changes between scheduled reviews may occur in response to material shifts in the market (e.g., a comparable product changes its pricing structure significantly, the addressable LAVS audience shifts in size). Any out-of-cycle change is announced with at least 60 days' notice and is grandfathered for existing Licensees through their current term.

## 8. Open questions deferred to future revisions

- **Volume discounts / multi-year terms.** Not currently offered. May be added as a v1.1 revision if demand warrants.
- **Open-core variant.** A future revision may release a subset of the Implementation under an open-source license (e.g., the decoder under MIT, the encoder/runtime under AGPL with a commercial dual-license for closed-source use). This is the standard pattern used by MongoDB, Sentry, Qt, MariaDB. Decision pending.
- **Per-domain license for web embeds.** A common pattern for web-distributed engines (Rive, Spline) is to license per-domain (each production domain hosting the engine pays a separate fee). Not currently offered; may be considered if the embedded-engine use case materializes.
- **Educational / non-profit discount.** Currently Tier E (Personal / Non-Commercial) covers most academic and non-profit cases. A separate discounted commercial tier for academic institutions or registered non-profits may be added if specific use cases emerge.
- **Sustaining-supporter tier.** For individuals or organizations who want to support LAVS development beyond their actual use needs, a "supporter" tier (Tier S?) with the same rights as Tier A but a higher voluntary contribution may be added if demand warrants.

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*This document is binding licensing policy as of the date above. Updates are versioned; this is version 1.0 (draft pending pricing finalization). Material changes will be announced with at least 30 days' notice to current Licensees.*