Notice (September 15, 2010): We will allow time for any violations or infringements to be corrected by October 15, 2010. Beyond that date, any violations of these guidelines will result in legal action from Literate Software LLC at our discretion.

Introduction

Literate Software LLC ("Litsoft") actively encourages and promotes the use of its software and other related intellectual property to make online distribution of crosswords easy, flexible and safe for publishers and consumers. As described in various documents including but not limited to contracts with its partners and license agreements in its software, it maintains all rights to its intellectual property, trademarks, proprietary information embedded within its software, documentation and output of its software with limited rights granted for its use. "Fair use laws" as may exist within a legal jurisdiction may also allow certain uses of this intellectual property beyond the rights explicitly granted by these licenses.

To clarify the correct use of Litsoft intellectual property as we get frequent enquiries from authors and publishers and to prevent any abuse of rights retained by Litsoft, this document provides the guidelines for proper uses of Literate Software intellectual property including but not limited to its software, output of its software, patents, trademarks and copyrights for end-users, authors, publishers and software makers.

This is NOT a legal document, does NOT confer any rights to any entity, and is NOT an exhaustive list of all rights maintained by Litsoft but is just an informal document to understand what may be and may not be legal use for some common cases. Please contact Litsoft for any questions or clarifications, if necessary. We cannot provide legal counsel or specific legal determination for your particular situation, you will need to consult your legal counsel for such things based on the applicable laws. It will be your responsibility to be compliant with all applicable laws.

Trademarks

Across, Across Lite, and Across Library are trademarks of Literate Software LLC and any use is protected by trademark laws.

Software

All rights to the software provided by Litsoft are owned by Litsoft and only limited rights are provided by the licensing or contract under which such software is provided.

End-users

Authors

Publishers

Software Publishers

All Litsoft software is protected by copyright and patent laws. Any infringement of these rights will be liable for prosecution. We encourage innovation for the benefit of consumers but not parasitic or blatant copying of our concepts, designs and intellectual property. We provide selective partnership licenses for use of our intellectual property or brand/trademarks for use in third-party software on any platform. Contact us if interested in partnering.

The puzzle formats of Litsoft embed Litsoft intellectual property and its use is governed by intellectual property laws and any applicable "fair use" laws.