Die in diesem Handbuch beschriebene Programmiersprache COBOL basiert auf der im Standarddokument „American National Standard for Information Systems - Programming Language - COBOL X3.23-1985“ festgelegten Sprache. In Anerkennung der Entwicklungs- und Standardisierungsarbeiten für die COBOL-Sprache ist es üblich, einer COBOL-Beschreibung folgenden, im Original wiedergegebenen Text voranzustellen:
„Any organization interested in reproducing the COBOL standard and specifications in whole or in part, using ideas from this document as the basis for an instruction manual or for any other purpose, is free to do so. However, all such organizations are requested to reproduce the following acknowledgment paragraphs in their entirety as part of the preface to any such publication (any organization using a short passage from this document, such as in a book review, is requested to mention ’COBOL’ in acknowledgment of the source, but need not quote the acknowledgment):
COBOL is an industry language and is not the property of any company or group of companies, or of any organization or group of organizations.
No warranty, expressed or implied, is made by any contributor or by the CODASYL COBOL Committee as to the accuracy and functioning of the programming system and language. Moreover, no responsibility is assumed by any contributor, or by the committee, in connection therewith.
The authors and copyright holders of the copyrighted materials used hereinFLOW-MATIC (trademark of Sperry Rand Corporation), Programming for theUNIVAC (R) I and II, Data Automation Systems copyrighted 1958, 1959, by Sperry Rand Corporation; IBM Commercial Translater Form No. F 28-8013, copyrighted 1959 by IBM; FACT, DSI 27A5260-2760, copyrighted 1960 by Minneapolis-Honeywell
have specifically authorized the use of this material in whole or in part, in the COBOL specifications. Such authorization extends to the reproduction and use of COBOL specifications in programming manuals or similar publications.“