Certain techniques and systems described on this site are protected by issued and pending intellectual property.

The project is ongoing. Additional techniques, methods, and systems may be acquired, developed, or incorporated over time, and may become subject to licensing requirements as they are formalized.

Use of covered techniques in operational, commercial, broadcast, or production contexts may require an express license, whether or not those techniques are individually enumerated on this page.

This page defines the boundary between descriptive material and authorized use.

Scope of Licensable Activity

Licensing may be required for activities including, but not limited to:

  • Deployment of outcome-level political advertising control techniques

  • Use of structured ad-slate, cycle-based, or neutralization logic

  • Commercial, broadcast, or production use of systems that operationalize these techniques

  • Integration of such techniques into vendor platforms, workflows, or services

Descriptive, academic, journalistic, or analytical discussion of these techniques does not itself constitute licensable use,

License Categories

Licenses are issued by class and scope. Availability and pricing vary by category.

Vendor Licensure

For technology vendors, software providers, analytics platforms, or service providers.

Vendor licenses are:

  • Non-transferable

  • Non-sublicensable

  • Not for the benefit of any third party

  • Not valid for broadcasters, stations, or station groups

  • Not rely-upon-able by any broadcaster

A vendor license does not convey coverage to customers, clients, or downstream users.

Broadcaster / Station / Station-Group Licensure

For broadcasters, stations, station groups, or entities exercising editorial or distribution control over political advertising.

Broadcaster licenses are required regardless of whether a licensed vendor is used.

Use of a licensed vendor does not eliminate broadcaster-level licensing obligations.

Evaluation / Counsel-Review Licensure (Limited)

Limited licenses may be available solely for internal legal or compliance evaluation.

These licenses:

  • Permit review only

  • Do not authorize deployment, testing, or production use

  • Do not imply future licensing availability

Political Organization Licensure (Forward-Looking)

Certain techniques contemplated or described by the project (particularly those relating to vote signaling, attribution, structured voter instructions, or post-election forensic analysis) may implicate direct use by political organizations.

These may include, depending on the technique and the governing intellectual property:

  • Political parties and party committees

  • Candidate committees

  • SuperPACs and independent-expenditure committees

  • 501(c)(4), 501(c)(6), and affiliated advocacy organizations

  • Coordinated or parallel political projects operating at arm’s length

Licensing for political organizations is technique-specific and intellectual-property-dependent. Some currently issued patents may not apply to direct political-organization use, while future systems or patents (including PLA-related methods) may.

Accordingly:

  • Not all political activity requires licensing

  • Not all techniques apply to political organizations

  • The absence of a current license offering does not imply permission

Political organizations contemplating operational use of covered or emerging techniques should evaluate licensing requirements at the time of deployment, not solely based on historical practice or public descriptions.

Licensing is not:

  • Legal advice

  • A regulatory safe harbor

  • An endorsement or certification

  • Implied by reading documentation or whitepapers

  • Granted through vendor relationships

  • Granted retroactively by publication or disclosure

No rights are granted by implication, estoppel, or reliance.

Relationship to Published Materials

Whitepapers, technical taxonomies, and other materials on this site are descriptive and classificatory.

They:

  • Explain what techniques exist

  • Do not authorize use

  • Do not waive rights

  • Do not substitute for a license

If a technique is described publicly, that description alone does not permit operational use.

Licensing Process

Licensing inquiries are handled directly.

  • Counsel-to-counsel communication is preferred

  • License terms are purpose- and scope-specific

  • Pricing reflects risk exposure and deployment context

To initiate a licensing discussion, contact:


Licensing@UnitedThird.org


or use the contact form with “Licensing Inquiry” in the subject line.

Reservation of Rights

All rights not expressly granted are reserved.

Unauthorized use may result in enforcement action.

Available for license:

Neutralization Technique Licensure