The License Terms and Conditions of Use
Post-Uploading Activity
The Terms and Conditions of Use for each Dataset are recorded using The License Agreement Form. This ensures that all decisions are captured in a single place and that they are retained for audit purposes. However, to assist in the selection of the correct License Terms and Conditions, the ADA also provides the ADA License Terms and Conditions Information Document. This document describes the Terms and Conditions that are commonly used in support of Datasets, allowing you to select the most appropriate for your data.
Agreement between the Data Owner and End User
The correct choice for the Terms and Conditions of Use for your data is important as this is the agreement between the Data Owner and any subsequent End-User of the data. It is the information that the user must agree to abide by if they require and are granted access to the data. The sharing or release of the data is enacted via the signing or agreement of a contract (the Terms and Conditions of Use) when the access request is submitted through Dataverse. This helps to make it clear who is responsible for what and it also ensures fair processing, usage and retention of the data.
The Standard ADA License Terms and Conditions of Use (Undertaking Form) also provide information relating to the inappropriate use of your data or the failure to keep your data safe once access has been provided. Penalties for breaches of these conditions will vary depending upon circumstances and the findings of any investigation. At one end of the scale they may result in temporary suspensions to access, or the permanent withdrawal of access for users and even organisations, rising in severity through to legal action in the most extreme and serious cases.
What Terms and Conditions of Use are available
The License Terms and Conditions of Use (Undertaking Form) provides the Data Owner with a detailed description of the various Terms and Conditions on offer with the ADA. In summary, the ADA offer the following:
a. A set of ADA Standard Terms and Conditions of Use that can be adopted by any Data Owner for use with their dataset.
b. If required, a more personal, tailored set of Non-Standard ADA Terms and Conditions of Use can be agreed through consultation with the ADA. If you think that you require such bespoke conditions for your dataset, you are encouraged to liaise with the ADA at the earliest opportunity as they may be able to assist you through the provision of examples of some other forms of Non-Standard Terms and Conditions of Use. There is a section at the rear of the form where you are able to draft Non-Standard License terms and Conditions ready for agreement with the ADA.
c. In addition, for Open Access categories of data, the ADA also allows you to select Creative Commons (CC) Terms and Conditions of Use.
The ADA License Terms and Conditions of Use (Undertaking Form) describes each of these options in detail.
How will the Terms and Conditions be entered onto the dataset(s)
Within a dataset, under the “Terms’ tab, if you select the waiver option, “No, do not apply CC0 – Public Domain Dedication”, i.e. if you do not want to waive your rights and want to place a copyright on the work, you will be granted access to a free text Terms and Conditions field. Within this field your chosen Terms and Conditions of Use information will be recorded. This information will be extracted directly from the ADA License Terms and Conditions of Use (Undertaking Form) for CC Licenses and ADA Standard License Terms and Conditions of Use by ADA Staff and entered for you prior to publishing the Dataverse. For Non-Standard Terms and Conditions of Use, the information that you provide with the License document suite must first be agreed with the ADA Director prior to it being entered into the dataset by the ADA Staff.
Additional License Information Fields
If you select anything other than a CC0 – Public Domain Dedication license for your data set, there are also a series of additional information fields that are open to the Data Owner to populate. These fields allow you to augment or elaborate on the Terms of Conditions that you have chosen. Template wording for each item is provided as a guide within the ADA License Terms and Conditions of Use (Undertaking Form). This default information will be used in lieu of any additional information provided by you. Where these fields are required to be amended, the Data Owner or depositor is to record the changes in red text or as tracked changes before returning the ADA License Terms and Conditions of Use (Undertaking Form) to the ADA for agreement by the Director. If required, the ADA Director will contact you to discuss the License Terms and Conditions of Use.
Download the Terms and Conditions of Use (Undertaking Form)
The License Terms and Conditions of Use (Undertaking Form) can be accessed at the following link: