GS1 DataBar Composite — bounded profile provenance and usability
===============================================================

This file records the engineering and redistribution boundary for the
`gs1composite` profile shipped by Sythos Barcode Universal. It is an
ENGINEERING INVENTORY, NOT LEGAL ADVICE. Patent, copyright, trademark and
standards conclusions require independent review for the jurisdiction and use
case involved.


FORMAT AND SPECIFICATION
------------------------

GS1 DataBar Composite symbols combine a linked GS1 DataBar linear component
with a two-dimensional CC-A or CC-B component. The relevant standards include
ISO/IEC 24723 and GS1 General Specifications. The standard text is copyrighted
by its publishers and is not reproduced or redistributed here.

This SDK ships a deliberately bounded Sythos profile: one validated DataBar
host (Omnidirectional, Truncated, Stacked, Stacked Omnidirectional, Limited or
Expanded) is composed with one strict MicroPDF417-derived component. The
profile uses an internal marker and one deterministic geometry so a detector
never pairs two unrelated symbols merely because they are near each other. It
does not claim complete ISO/IEC 24723 conformance, certification or scanner
interoperability for every composite layout.


PATENT AND TRADEMARK STATUS
---------------------------

GS1, GS1 DataBar and the composite symbology names may be protected marks or
subject to usage rules. The current ownership, patent and licensing position
for every composite component requires jurisdiction-specific review. No patent
clearance, public-domain conclusion, GS1 certification or endorsement is
asserted here. [TO VERIFY]

The format names are used descriptively to identify the engineering profile.
The MIT licence below covers original Sythos code only; it does not grant any
rights in standards text, marks, patents, certification programmes or external
specification material. [TO VERIFY]


IMPLEMENTATION BASIS
--------------------

The encoder, decoder, detector, layout checks and tests are original Sythos
TypeScript with generated JavaScript runtime modules. Existing Sythos GS1
element-string and DataBar validators provide the linear side. The companion
component reuses the project's own MicroPDF417 runtime primitives and strict
error correction, then verifies a private profile marker, linkage flag,
separator and shared integer module scale before returning data.

No ZXing, BWIPP, Zint or other third-party source code, table or runtime
dependency is copied into or shipped by this package. Independent software,
when consulted, is used only as a black-box engineering check and is not part
of this distribution.


MIT LICENCE FOR ORIGINAL WORK
-----------------------------

The original implementation in `src/ts/composite/` and its generated runtime
in `src/js/composite/` are distributed under the MIT License:

Copyright (c) 2026 Sythos (https://www.sythos.net)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.


CONCLUSION
----------

The MIT License covers the original Sythos implementation and does not turn
this bounded profile into a licence for ISO/IEC, GS1 or any third-party rights.
Applications requiring certified GS1 DataBar Composite interoperability must
validate their target scanner, obtain any required permissions and perform
their own legal review before deployment.

Any concern about the available material, a conflicting rights notice or a
possible format limitation should be reported through a GitHub issue with a
public reference so it can be reviewed and recorded.

References relied upon:

- ISO/IEC 24723, GS1 Composite bar code symbology specification
- GS1 General Specifications: https://ref.gs1.org/standards/genspecs/
- GS1 DataBar overview: https://www.gs1.org/standards/barcodes/databar
- Sythos MicroPDF417 provenance inventory: `licenses/micropdf417.license`
- Independent black-box checks, when used, are recorded in `NOTICE.md` and do
  not contribute source code