update readme, license, and contributing documents

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# Contributing to ACES
+
+We're thrilled that you're interested in contributing to ACES. To maintain the legal integrity of the project's codebase, we require all contributors to sign a Contributor License Agreement (CLA).
+
+## Signing the CLA
+
+- Before we can merge any of your contributions, you must sign our CLA.
+- The process is simple. When you submit a pull request for the first time, you will be prompted to sign the CLA online.
+- If you are contributing on behalf of your employer or if your contributions are owned by someone other than yourself (e.g., your employer), please make sure you have the right to submit the contributions under our project's CLA.
+
+By signing the CLA, you assure the project and its users that your contributions do not infringe upon the rights of any third parties and that the project can use your contributions without legal repercussions.
+
+If you have any questions about the CLA process, please feel free to contact a member of the ACES Team via ACESCentral.com.
+
+## Requirement for Signed Commits
+
+As part of our commitment to security and the integrity of our codebase, we require all commits to be signed. This helps us ensure that contributions are actually made by the account they come from and not altered by a third party.
+
+### Why Signed Commits?
+
+Signed commits provide an additional layer of security by guaranteeing that the commits are from a verified source. This is crucial for maintaining the trustworthiness of our codebase.
+
+### How to Sign Commits
+
+To sign commits, you'll need to use a GPG (GNU Privacy Guard) or S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) key. If you haven't already set up a GPG key, you can follow [GitHub's guide on generating a new GPG key](https://docs.github.com/en/github/authenticating-to-github/generating-a-new-gpg-key).
+
+Once you have a GPG key, you can add it to your GitHub account. For instructions on how to do this, see [GitHub's documentation on adding a new GPG key to your account](https://docs.github.com/en/github/authenticating-to-github/adding-a-new-gpg-key-to-your-github-account).
+
+When you have your GPG key added to your GitHub account, you can start signing your commits. If you're using the command line, you can sign commits with `git commit -S -m "Your commit message"`.
+
+### Verifying a Signed Commit
+
+You can verify that your commits are signed by looking for the "Verified" label on GitHub's commit interface.
+
+### What if You Cannot Sign Your Commits?
+
+We understand that in some scenarios, you might not be able to sign commits. If you find yourself in this situation, please reach out to the project maintainers for assistance.
+
+For more detailed instructions on signing commits, you can refer to [GitHub's documentation on signing commits](https://docs.github.com/en/github/authenticating-to-github/signing-commits).
+
+---
+
+We appreciate your contributions to ACES, and we thank you for adhering to our signed commits policy. This policy helps us maintain the security and integrity of our codebase.
+
+If you have any questions about this process, please feel free to contact the project maintainers.

LICENSE.md

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# License Terms for Academy Color Encoding System Components
+
+Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) software and tools are provided by the Academy under the following terms and conditions: A worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive right to copy, modify, create derivatives, and use, in source and binary forms, is hereby granted, subject to acceptance of this license.
+
+Copyright 2019 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (A.M.P.A.S.). Portions contributed by others as indicated. All rights reserved.
+
+Performance of any of the aforementioned acts indicates acceptance to be bound by the following terms and conditions:
+
+> Copies of source code, in whole or in part, must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the Disclaimer of Warranty.
+>
+> Use in binary form must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the Disclaimer of Warranty in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
+>
+> Nothing in this license shall be deemed to grant any rights to trademarks, copyrights, patents, trade secrets or any other intellectual property of A.M.P.A.S. or any contributors, except as expressly stated herein.
+>
+> Neither the name "A.M.P.A.S." nor the name of any other contributors to this software may be used to endorse or promote products derivative of or based on this software without express prior written permission of A.M.P.A.S. or the contributors, as appropriate.
+
+This license shall be construed pursuant to the laws of the State of California, and any disputes related thereto shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts therein.
+
+Disclaimer of Warranty: THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY A.M.P.A.S. AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL A.M.P.A.S., OR ANY CONTRIBUTORS OR DISTRIBUTORS, BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, RESITUTIONARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
+
+WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, THE ACADEMY SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER RELATED TO PATENT OR OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN THE ACADEMY COLOR ENCODING SYSTEM, OR APPLICATIONS THEREOF, HELD BY PARTIES OTHER THAN A.M.P.A.S.,WHETHER DISCLOSED OR UNDISCLOSED.

README.md

@@ -1,7 +1,16 @@
 ## ACES Metadata File (AMF) ##
 
+[![CLA assistant](https://cla-assistant.io/readme/badge/ampas/aces-amf)](https://cla-assistant.io/ampas/aces-amf)
+
 The ACES Metadata File ("AMF") is a sidecar XML file intended to exchange the metadata required to recreate ACES viewing pipelines. It describes the transforms necessary to configure an ACES viewing pipeline for a collection of related image files.
 
 This directory includes the ACES Metadata File XML Schema ([acesMetadataFile.xsd](./schema/acesMetadataFile.xsd)), dependency XML schemas and [example AMF files](./examples/).
 
-Details of the ACES Metadata File format and its use cases can be found in [Academy Specification S-2019-001](https://aces.mp/S-2019-001).
+Details of the ACES Metadata File format and its use cases can be found in [Academy Specification S-2019-001](https://aces.mp/S-2019-001).
+
+## License ##
+This project is licensed under the terms of the [LICENSE](./LICENSE.md) agreement.
+
+## Contributing ##
+Thank you for your interest in contributing to our project. Before any contributions can be accepted, we require contributors to sign a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) to ensure that the project can freely use your contributions. You can find more details and instructions on how to sign the CLA in the [CONTRIBUTING.md](./CONTRIBUTING.md) file.
+