RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) - End-User License Agreement

1. Definitions

In this License Agreement, the following terms will have the following meanings:

"Intellectual Property" means any information or knowledge of an industrial, scientific, technical, commercial, literary, dramatic, artistic or otherwise creative nature, whether oral or recorded in any form or medium and whether or not subject to copyright; this includes but is not limited to any inventions, designs, methods, processes, techniques, know-how, show-how, models, prototypes, patterns, samples, schematics, experimental or test data, reports, drawings, plans, specifications, photographs, manuals and any other documents, Software, and Firmware.

"Metadata" means any data other than the imagery itself which describes or qualifies the imagery information from RCM Imagery including, but not limited to, geo-coding information, acquisition time, associated ground truth, sensor configuration, sensor geometry, satellite ephemeris, and other ancillary information which further describes RCM Imagery or the sensor configuration or sensing platform on which it is carried.

The metadata delivered with the imagery would include a copy of this License Agreement either embedded or as an attached file.

"Original Pixels" means radiometric values (amplitude and phase where applicable) Traceable and Transformable back to the Product at the full spatial and spectral resolution, sampling and projection.

"Raw Data" means sensor data from a remote sensing satellite, and any auxiliary data required to produce remote sensing products from the sensor data, that have not been transformed into a remote sensing product.

"RCM Imagery" means Raw Data and Remote Sensing Products.

"Remote Sensing Product" means an image or data produced from raw data in any way that transforms the raw data, excluding Value-Added Products.

"Traceable" means the steps in the heritage of creating the RCM Imagery including whatever processing, transformations, radiometric corrections, geo-corrections, reformatting, resampling or other operations which have been applied in its creation are able to be reconstructed. Certain parameters associated with traceability are normally provided in Metadata; other information may be in the form of global documentation.

"Value-Added Product" means any Remote Sensing Product that does not retain the Original Pixel information of the Raw Data and/or Remote Sensing Product and that:

1. are obtained using interferometric processing techniques, such as interferograms, coherent change detection products or interferometric Digital Elevation Models; or
2. include a material addition of other external information or have undergone significant enhancement, but do not retain any original intensity or phase pixel values of the original RCM Imagery.

Examples of a Value-Added Product are, but are not limited to:

• land-cover classifications;
• vegetation indexes;
• marine oil slick observation products;
• critical infrastructure surveillance products; and
• in general, products supporting applications and enhanced operational services that when based on remotely sensed measurements can provide useful information for Earth Observation (EO) purposes while fulfilling the above requirements at (a) and (b).

2. Grant of license

The Government of Canada grants the Licensee a limited, non-transferable and non-exclusive license to use the RCM Imagery and any accompanying written materials, provided to the Licensee by the Government of Canada, solely for the following uses:

1. to make an unlimited number of soft and hard copies of the RCM Imagery for the internal use of Licensee;
2. to store, post or process the RCM Imagery and/or its derivatives in a system that is not accessible through a public network;
3. release hard copy prints of the RCM Imagery and/or its derivatives, publish such RCM Imagery and/or its derivatives in research reports, journals, trade papers or similar publications, and post such RCM Imagery and/or its derivatives to Internet web sites, provided that such RCM Imagery and/or its derivatives are in a format that allows only printing and viewing and prohibits manipulating the RCM Imagery and/or its derivative's pixel or metadata and that such RCM Imagery and/or its derivatives does not contain any Original Pixel phase information; and
4. towards the development, reproduction, sale, lease, rental, sub-license and distribution of any Value-Added Product generated from the RCM Imagery consistent with any limitations set out in Article 4 of this License Agreement.

3. Ownership

The RCM Imagery provided to the Licensee under this License Agreement is licensed, not sold. As such, all right, title and interest in and to all Intellectual Property in or related to the RCM Imagery so provided is and will remain the exclusive property of the Government of Canada. However, in the case of Value-Added Products, the Licensee will own all title to any such Value-Added Products generated by the Licensee.

4. Prohibited transfers and uses

Without limiting the generality of this License Agreement, the Licensee acknowledges and agrees that it may not:

1. sell, lease, rent, sub-license or transfer the RCM Imagery provided in any other manner whatsoever;
2. reverse engineer, disassemble, decompile or adapt the RCM Imagery received;
3. post the RCM Imagery received to Internet web sites in a format that allows manipulation;
4. on its own, or permit any third party to, release or publish hardcopies of RCM Imagery retaining the Original Pixel phase information in any beam mode or post such RCM Imagery retaining the Original Pixel phase information on any publicly accessible network; or
5. alter or remove any copyright notice or proprietary legend contained in or on the RCM Imagery received.

5. Contractor access

Notwithstanding Article 4, the Licensee may allow embedded contractors (i.e. individuals working directly on site with the Licensee under contract through a staffing agency or other embedded contractor provider) to access to the RCM Imagery and/or its derivatives, provided that the Licensee ensures that:

1. access to RCM Imagery and /or its derivatives is provided to the embedded contractors on a need-to-know basis in order for them to perform their work for the Licensee;
2. the RCM Imagery and/or its derivatives remain in the possession of the Licensee at all times;
3. the embedded contractors do not make any copies of the RCM Imagery and/or its derivatives, except strictly as necessary in order to perform their work for the Licensee; and
4. the embedded contractors and their parent company sign a non-disclosure agreement pursuant to which:
   1. the embedded contractors will not transfer the RCM Imagery to anyone, including the parent company; and
   2. he parent company must not require any transfer of the RCM Imagery from the embedded contractors, including to itself, without the authorization of the Government of Canada.

6. Copyright notice

The following copyright notice must be conspicuously displayed alongside the RCM Imagery and/or its derivatives or any portion thereof: "RADARSAT Constellation Mission Imagery © Government of Canada (year of acquisition)" and "RADARSAT is an official mark of the Canadian Space Agency" must appear as a credit.

7. Limitation of warranty

The Licensee assumes the entire risk as to the use of RCM Imagery received as to its performance and to the result of such use. The Licensee acknowledges and agrees that the RCM Imagery is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind and, more specifically, the Government of Canada disclaims all warranties, including but not limited to, any warranty of merchantability, integration, satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, title or against infringement. The Licensee is solely responsible for the selection of the RCM Imagery to achieve Licensee's intended results or for Licensee's particular applications, and no warranties, guaranties or representations are made regarding the use or the results of the use of the RCM Imagery received in terms of its correctness, accuracy, reliability, currentness, fitness for the purposes of the Licensee, or otherwise.

8. Waiver of liability

9. Indemnification

10. Termination

1. The Government of Canada may terminate this License Agreement, effective immediately, upon notice to the Licensee, if the Government of Canada determines that the Licensee:
   1. breached any provision of this License Agreement;
   2. submitted incomplete, inaccurate, false or misleading information through the application process for obtaining a vetted user account;
   3. has used, or is likely to use, the RCM Imagery in a manner that is injurious to the conduct of Canada's international relations, inconsistent with Canada's international obligations, or contrary to the security of Canada or of its allies;
   4. applied or consented for the appointment of a receiver, receiver-manager, trustee or liquidator for the Licensee or any of the Licensee's property;
   5. is unable, or admitted inability, to pay debts as they become due;
   6. has been adjudicated insolvent or bankrupt; or
   7. filed a voluntary petition in bankruptcy or a petition seeking reorganization or arrangement with creditors or takes advantage of any insolvency law or admits to the material allegations of a petition filed against it in any bankruptcy, reorganization or insolvency proceeding, or initiates a corporate action for the purpose of effecting any of the foregoing.
2. Upon termination of this License Agreement, without prejudice to any right that the Government of Canada may have under this License Agreement or under any other legal rule or theory, all rights granted to the Licensee hereunder will immediately cease and the Licensee shall forthwith delete or otherwise destroy all RCM Imagery received, whatever the source may be, and provide a certification to the Government of Canada, in a manner satisfactory to the Government of Canada, that no RCM Imagery remain in the Licensee's possession.
3. The provisions of this License Agreement on Ownership (Article 3), Limitation of Warranty (Article 7), Waiver of Liability (Article 8) and Indemnification (Article 9), as well as the provisions, which by the nature of the rights or obligations might be reasonably expected to survive, shall survive the termination of this License Agreement.

11. Breach of terms

The Licensee acknowledges that any breach of this License Agreement would likely cause the Government of Canada irreparable harm that could not be fully remedied by monetary damages. As such, the Licensee acknowledges that the Government of Canada will have the right, in addition to any other remedy available to it, to seek injunctive or other equitable relief from a court of competent jurisdiction, without proof of actual damage, as may be necessary to prevent such breach.

12. Governing law

This License Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws in force (including Federal law) in the Province of Ontario, Canada and shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts therein.

13. Audit

The Government of Canada may audit the Licensee's records, accounts and books relating to the use of RCM Imagery provided to ensure that they are being used in accordance with the terms and condition of this License Agreement. The Licensee shall provide forthwith all access to its facilities as well as to its records, accounts and books that the Government of Canada may reasonably require to exercise its rights of audit under this Article.

14. Assignment or transfer

Neither the license granted under Article 2 nor any of the rights or obligations under this License Agreement may be assigned or transferred by the Licensee without the prior written consent of the Government of Canada. This restriction on assignment or transfer will apply to assignments or transfers by operation of law, as well as by contract, merger or consolidation.

15. Modifications

16. Severability

In the event that any provision of this License Agreement is declared invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions of this License will continue in full force and effect.

17. Exhaustivity

The granting of this license is based on the information provided in the RADARSAT Constellation Mission Application for Vetted User Account and its appendixes as filled by the Licensee. As such, this License Agreement is the complete and exclusive agreement between the parties and supersedes all proposals or prior oral or written agreements, or any other communications between the parties relating to the subject matter herein.

Explore further

• About access to RCM data
• Frequently asked questions - RADARSAT Constellation Mission
• Open data and information