:PROPERTIES:
:CREATED:  [2026-05-24 Sun]
:ID:       67faf52f-9126-50a7-b87e-2bedc610dac7
:ID:       caaeee11-ba6f-5566-aecd-f171b4c459c0
:END:
#+title: Licensing and Patents
#+filetags: :passepartout:ip:licensing:patents:agpl:commercial:legal:

**AGPLv3 for the public repository.** AGPL closes the ASP loophole: anyone who modifies the software and offers it over a network must release their modified source. Combined with a patent strategy, this creates [[id:aa6d062e-a520-5d14-8773-00687ed9c689][moats]] against proprietary forks.

Crucially: AGPL is a *product requirement*, not a concession. The system's value proposition is provable correctness — every decision has Merkle provenance. This claim is structurally incredible with closed source. An enterprise buyer needs to inspect the gate stack, verify the Merkle implementation, and confirm ACL2 integration. AGPL makes this possible without signing an NDA. This transparency also enables a [[id:1a2b38df-20ba-58ca-ba55-a072be67bd0d][PDS as a service]] model where enterprises can run their own infrastructure.

**AGPL only covers modifications to code, not:**
- Gate rules specific to a domain (these are data, not code)
- The fact store (empirical data generated from usage)
- Ontology categories (design decisions stored as configuration)
- Proprietary skills loaded at runtime (AGPL boundary on plugin systems is legally unsettled)

**Dual license model:**
- AGPLv3 for open source — builds ecosystem, trust, community
- Commercial license for enterprises that cannot accept AGPL — MySQL/SugarCRM/GraphQL model

**Patent Strategy**

**Likely patentable:**
- Probabilistic-deterministic split with deterministic gates between LLM proposal and execution (vs every competitor using prompt-based guardrails)
- Foveal-peripheral context model with Org-tree structured retrieval (targets 2,000-4,000 tokens)
- Merkle-tree memory with copy-on-write snapshots and operation-level undo/redo
- Gate-to-fact bootstrap with sufficiency criterion (mechanically extracting facts from gate stack data structures)
- Macro-layer-as-skill bootstrapping architecture (theorem-proving as hot-reloadable skills)

**Likely not patentable (known techniques):**
- ACL2 itself (decades old)
- Screamer for consistency checking (obvious application)
- Hot-reloadable skills (40 years old)
- Org-mode as a data format

**Strongest single claim:** The specific combination of probabilistic model + deterministic zero-token safety gates + Merkle memory + symbolic engine with sufficiency criterion. Each element is known; the combination is novel and non-obvious.

**Counterargument:** A patent examiner will argue these are standard OS microkernel architecture, locality of reference, content-addressed storage, and capability-based security applied to an AI agent. The defense: they have never been *combined* in an AI agent, producing emergent effects no single principle produces. These patents feed into the licensing strategy and create [[id:aa6d062e-a520-5d14-8773-00687ed9c689][moats]] against competitors.
