The University of Washington and the FMA™ Research Project have made the FMA™ Ontology Release Version available without charge to encourage the dissemination and use of the work of the FMA™ Research Project.
Here is some background information and responses to some common questions about access to the FMA™ Ontology
You need to agree to the FMA™ Ontology License Agreement and register prior to downloading the FMA Ontology at its website: http://fma.biostr.washington.edu/register.
You will download the Release Version of the FMA™ Ontology which is a snapshot of the FMA™ Master Ontology . The Release Version of the FMA™ Ontology is current as of the date it is downloaded from the FMA™ web site.
Under the terms of the FMA™ Licensing Agreement you are allowed and encouraged to freely distribute ONLY the Release Version of FMA™ Ontology. The FMA™ Master Ontology is not available for distribution.
You should be aware that your no-charge distribution right for the FMA™ Release Version does not allow you to use the FMA™ Ontology, nor may you use the name Foundational Model of Anatomy ontology. You are also not allowed to use the name, identifiers, or marks of the University of Washington.
Yes, this is a type of an open source license and the FMA™ Ontology is open source material. The FMA™ Licensing Agreement keeps key material available to the public and reserves certain rights that are important to us.
First, we would like to thank you for your interest and effort in working with the FMA™ Ontology. Second, you can submit your modifications to the FMA™ by using a Contribution Agreement. You will find the Contribution Agreement at Appendix B of the FM™ License Agreement. Third, you MUST include the attribution paragraph in your Licensing Agreement under Section 5 "Attribution." We require that you include this attribution to prevent confusion related to the use and ownership of the underlying FMA™ material.
This could occur for two reasons. One, we simply have been too busy to fully integrate your improvement into FMA™ Ontology. If this is the case, please be patient.
Two, the FMA™ Research Project has not chosen to not incorporate your work into FMA™ Ontology. As part of the FMA™ License Agreement, the FMA™ Research Project is the sole arbiter of what is accepted as a Contribution.
You are free to modify any part of Release Version, but FMA™ Ontology is not required to accept or incorporate your improvement(s). We also reserve the right to implement some, but not all of your suggestions or modifications. Finally, we do not need to notify you or provide a reason for incorporating or not incorporating your improvement into FMA™ Ontology. Should we find it necessary to communicate with you regarding your contributions, we will notify you by email our interests on your contribution.
The FMA™ Ontology Research Project maintains curatorial control to best preserve the purpose and intent of FMA™. We believe that this editorial power provides the best method for assuring the quality and reliability of the product.
For more information about the FMA™ Ontology and contact information about projects and publications of the FMA Research project, see the FMA Website.