Intellectual Property Ownership and Licensing
Effective Date: 23 October 2026
1. Ownership of Intellectual Property
Bernard Lynch is the sole author and personal owner of all his work and all its intellectual property, including AIVA and CV4Students, without exception.
AI Visibility Architecture Group Limited is a New Zealand registered company founded by Bernard Lynch in January 2026. Its incorporation did not transfer ownership of Bernard Lynch’s intellectual property to the company.
The intellectual property includes:
- 11-Stage AI Visibility Lifecycle — Website Discovery to AI Citations.
- Signal Mesh Architecture.
- The 12-Block Metadata System.
- Signal-Native Paper Architecture.
- The AIVA Reporting System and associated measurement methodologies.
- The AIVA Terminology Index and related terminology specifications.
- Ambiguity Elimination and Canonical Anchoring methodologies.
- AI Stewardship and governance methodologies.
- AI Visibility training and certification frameworks.
- White papers, research publications and technical documentation.
- CV4Students educational content and related technical architecture.
These assets form an integrated body of intellectual property addressing AI-mediated website discovery, interpretation, visibility and measurement.
Ownership remains personally with Bernard Lynch.
2. Architectural Use and Implementation Scope
AIVA documents structural principles and analytical methods for understanding how websites and digital information are discovered, interpreted, evaluated and presented through AI systems.
The framework is not a guaranteed method for obtaining citations, recommendations, rankings or visibility.
Its application requires an understanding of the relevant technical environment, appropriate evidence, architectural reasoning and continuing assessment.
Implementing an individual technique does not necessarily reproduce the results of the broader architecture.
3. Permitted Uses
AIVA’s own white papers and research publications are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Under this licence, readers may:
- Read and download published research.
- Copy and redistribute the licensed material for non-commercial purposes, with appropriate attribution.
- Cite published AIVA papers.
- Link to official publications and source records.
- Study the framework and its documented principles.
- Create adaptations for their own use, provided adapted material is not shared under the licence.
Other uses may require separate permission from Bernard Lynch.
4. Restricted Uses
The following activities require separate permission from Bernard Lynch unless otherwise permitted by applicable law or an existing licence:
- Commercial reproduction or redistribution of protected AIVA material.
- Commercial use of protected material beyond the applicable public licence.
- Distribution of adaptations of material licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
- Commercial training or certification using protected AIVA materials.
- Licensing or sublicensing protected AIVA content outside existing permitted rights.
- Use of AIVA names or materials in ways that falsely imply authorisation, certification or endorsement.
Nothing on this page removes rights already granted under an applicable licence or provided by law.
5. Publication Licences
AIVA’s own white papers and research publications use one standard licence:
Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Licence information:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
This licence permits non-commercial sharing with attribution but does not authorise commercial reuse or redistribution of adaptations.
Separate commercial permissions may be granted by Bernard Lynch.
Existing public records containing different licence declarations are subject to reconciliation. Permissions already validly granted under an earlier licence are not automatically revoked.
6. Attribution and Authorship
Bernard Lynch must be identified as the author or creator of his work.
The 11-Stage AI Visibility Lifecycle was created by Bernard Lynch.
When citing a specific publication, use its official title, creator attribution, publication identifier and applicable licence information.
Supporting records are available through:
AIVA website: https://aivisibilityarchitects.com/
Researcher record: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6170-7818
Lifecycle publication: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18460710
Publication through AI Visibility Architecture Group Limited does not change Bernard Lynch’s personal authorship or stated ownership.
7. Commercial Licensing
Bernard Lynch retains authority over commercial licensing of his personally owned intellectual property.
Commercial licensing may cover the AIVA framework, reporting methodologies and other separately identified intellectual property assets.
Potential applications include:
| Licence category | Intended application |
|---|---|
| Practice Licence | Professional services and consultancy applications |
| Enterprise Licence | Internal organisational use |
| Technology Licence | Integration into software and technical products |
| Platform Licence | Integration into websites, hosting, content or other platforms |
| Alignment Licence | Defined compatibility or alignment arrangements |
Training and certification rights may be addressed separately.
The scope, permissions, exclusions, duration and commercial terms of any licence are determined by the relevant agreement.
Licensing or acquisition enquiries should be directed to Bernard Lynch.
Email: support@aivisibilityarchitects.com
8. Intellectual Property Protection
Bernard Lynch reserves the rights available to him under applicable intellectual property law, subject to existing licences and permissions.
Unauthorised reproduction, redistribution, misrepresentation or commercial exploitation may be addressed through appropriate legal processes.
Any enforcement action must respect existing publication licences and applicable law.
9. Research, Publication and Archival Record
AIVA research is documented through white papers, technical specifications, publication repositories and archival records.
These records support the identification of published work, authorship, versions and publication chronology.
They include:
- Zenodo publications and DOI records.
- Bernard Lynch’s ORCID researcher record.
- The AIVA website and its technical documentation.
- The IETF Internet-Draft, submitted individually.
- Research and terminology documentation associated with the W3C AI Visibility Lifecycle Framework Community Group.
- Other relevant technical and archival publications.
Publication, archival deposit or community participation does not by itself constitute external endorsement, formal standardisation or independent validation.
10. Contact and Licensing Enquiries
Intellectual Property Owner: Bernard Lynch
Professional Role: Founder & AI Visibility Architect
Company: AI Visibility Architecture Group Limited
Company Number: 9395521
NZBN: 9429053354075
Incorporated: 5 January 2026
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Email: support@aivisibilityarchitects.com
Website: https://aivisibilityarchitects.com/
For intellectual property licensing, acquisition or permissions, contact Bernard Lynch.
© 2026 Bernard Lynch. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).