The Public Domain Knowledge Bank mailing list
([email protected])
has the purpose of support, creation and maintenance of a common
sense knowledge base (Public Domain Knowledge Bank also known as PDKB)
available to the any person who wants to use it.

The PDKB is based (on its upper levels) upon the Upper CYC
Ontology Guide and Browsable Ontology, and it is our intent to include
all of the Material released by Cycorp to be used by the public.
There is a license that associated with the Upper Cyc Ontology which
is reproduced at the end of this document.

Although the PDKB is based on the Upper CYC Ontology, Cycorp, Inc. has not
approved, disapproved nor endorsed the PDKB project or its knowledge base.

This mailing list is not intended to be a general mailing list about
Artificial Intelligence issues, nor to cover general philosophical issues.
Focused discussions of specific elements of the Upper CYC Ontology
may require a variety of topics, but they should be relevant to the
purpose of the list.

This list is based on the following assumptions:
    1) The PDKB will be a symbolic knowledge base, organized in
        accordance to logical predicates.  Probabilistic and
        Fuzzy logic systems are available as well using MELD.
        Expert systems based solely on Perceptrons or neural
        networks with no symbolic formulation, while useful,
        are not intended to be represented in PDKB, and hence
        will be rarely discussed on the mailing list.
    2) The logical predicates will be formulated using CycL or MELD.
        Discussions of other axiom systems or knowledge representation
        systems will be acceptable only as far as they clarify 
        meaning, but not for extended advocacy arguments. 
        The purpose of this list is to discuss and formalize content, 
        not systems of encoding content.
    3) It is understood that there are many variations of logical
        systems that may be used to provide a semantics for the
        content within PDKB.  Where MELD sematics are defined, PDKB
        uses a logical system compatible with MELD semantics. 
        All discussions of alternate logical systems
        should support this consistent encoding of content.
    4) All contributions to the list whether by mail, or in the
        PDKB itself will be attributed as much as possible to the
        author, but are understood to be usable by any participants
        in any manner and held in common as Public Domain contributions.
        This is in contrast to the nature of the public release of
        the Upper Cyc Ontology.
    5) Sufficient messages contrary to the purpose of the list
        sent by an individual, or failure of multiple e-mail messages
        to be delivered will be considered grounds for removal from
        the list of subscribers to the list.
    6) PDKB is intended to represent the common sense knowledge 
        of the typical citizen of the United States, living in the
        Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries.  It is not intended
        to be a database of facts, but a knowledge bank of rules,
        general principles, and obvious details necessary for
        a computer program to understand and process information
        about the world encountered by the typical citizen mentioned
        previously.
    7) The PDKB, the PDKB mailing list, the participants in it, 
        and discussion upon it are understood to not be in violation 
        of any trade secrets nor of any proprietary information owned 
        by Cycorp or any other entity. Please note that Cycorp, Inc. has
        not approved, disapproved nor endorsed the PDKB project or its
        knowledge base.
    8) The mailing list is not sponsored by any group, and 
        discussions upon it are conversations supported by the
        Constitution of the United States. Appropriate guarantees
        of free speech as applicable to international participants
        are also intended to be referenced should this be necessary.

Since the PDKB is based (on its upper levels) upon the Upper CYC
Ontology Guide and Browsable Ontology, and it is our intent to include 
all of the Material released by Cycorp to be used by the public, it is
necessary to publish a copy of the license for the Upper CYC Ontology.
This follows:

   By obtaining information, software, and/or documentation of the Upper
   CYC Ontology (collectively, "Material"), you agree to be legally bound
   by the following terms:

   Cycorp is providing the Material at no charge. However, it is not
   'Public Domain.' Please acknowledge Cycorp, 3721 Executive Center Dr.,
   Austin, TX 78731 in any use or citation of the Material including, as
   applicable, as part of your product's documentation, packaging, and
   sign-on message, if said product incorporates some or all of the
   Material. Anyone who obtains Material from you to provide to a third
   party must agree to, and reproduce in full, the terms of this
   paragraph when and as they provide said Material to third parties. The
   terms of this paragraph equally apply to renamings and other logically
   equivalent reformulations of the Material in any natural or formal
   language. Cycorp intends to amend and expand the Material from time to
   time; the latest version is available here at www.cyc.com for browsing
   or downloading.

     CYCORP, INC. MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO
     THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE DOCUMENTATION, SOFTWARE, AND
     INFORMATION PROVIDED, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY IMPLIED
     WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR
     PURPOSE, AND SHALL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFIT OR
     OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGE.