The verb
license or
grant license means to give permission. The noun
license (
American English) or
licence (
British English,
[1] Indian English,
[2] Canadian English,
[3] Australian English,
[4] New Zealand English,
[5] South African English[6]) refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.
A license may be granted by a party ("licensor") to another party
("licensee") as an element of an agreement between those parties. A
shorthand definition of a license is "an authorization (by the licensor)
to use the licensed material (by the licensee)."
In particular, a license may be issued by authorities, to allow an
activity that would otherwise be forbidden. It may require paying a fee
and/or proving a capability. The requirement may also serve to keep the
authorities informed on a type of activity, and to give them the
opportunity to set conditions and limitations.
A licensor may grant a
license under
intellectual property laws to authorize a use (such as copying software or using a (
patented) invention) to a licensee, sparing the licensee from a claim of infringement brought by the licensor.
[7] A license under intellectual property commonly has several components beyond the grant itself, including a
term,
territory,
renewal provisions, and other limitations deemed vital to the licensor.
Term: many licenses are valid for a particular length of time.
This protects the licensor should the value of the license increase, or
market conditions change. It also preserves enforceability by ensuring
that no license extends beyond the term of the agreement.
Territory: a license may stipulate what territory the rights
pertain to. For example, a license with a territory limited to "North
America" (Mexico/United States/Canada) would not permit a licensee any
protection from actions for use in Japan.
A shorthand definition of license is "a promise by the licensor not
to sue the licensee." That means without a license any use or
exploitation of intellectual property by a third party would amount to
copying or infringement. Such copying would be improper and could, by
using the legal system, be stopped if the intellectual property owner
wanted to do so.
[8]
It is undeniable that intellectual property licensing plays a major
role in today's business and economy. Business practices such as
franchising, technology transfer, publication and character
merchandising entirely depend on the licensing of intellectual property.
Licensing has been recognised as an independent branch of law. It is
born out of the interplay of the doctrine of contract and the principles
of intellectual property.
Mass licensing of software
Mass distributed software is used by individuals on personal
computers under license from the developer of that software. Such
license is typically included in a more extensive end-user license
agreement (EULA) entered into upon the installation of that software on a
computer. Typically, a license is associated with a unique code, that
when approved grants the end user access to the software in question.
Under a typical end-user license agreement, the user may install the software on a limited number of computers.
The enforceability of end-user license agreements is sometimes
questioned.
Trademark and brand licensing
A licensor may grant permission to a licensee to distribute products under a
trademark.
With such a license, the licensee may use the trademark without fear of
a claim of trademark infringement by the licensor. The assignment of a
license often depends on specific
contractual terms.
The most common terms are, that a license is only applicable for a
particular geographic region, just for a certain period of time or
barely for a stage in the
value chain.
Moreover there are different types of fees within the trademark and
brand licensing. The first form demands a fee independent of
sales and
profits, the second type of license fee is dependent on the productivity of the licensee.
Artwork and character licensing
A licensor may grant a permission to a licensee to copy and distribute
copyrighted works such as "art" (e.g.,
Thomas Kinkade's painting "Dawn in Los Gatos") and characters (e.g.,
Mickey Mouse). With such license, a licensee need not fear a claim of copyright infringement brought by the copyright owner.
Artistic license is, however, not related to the aforementioned license. It is a
euphemism that denotes approaches in art works where dramatic effect is achieved at the expense of
factual accuracy.
Academia
- National examples of the License are listed at Licentiate
A
license is an
academic degree.
Originally, in order to teach at a university, one needed this degree
which, according to its title, gave the bearer a license to teach. The
name survived despite the fact that nowadays a
doctorate is typically needed in order to teach at a university. A person who holds a license is called a
licentiate.
In
Sweden,
Finland, and in some other European university systems, a license or '
Licentiate' is a postgraduate degree between the master's degree and the
doctorate. The
Licentiate is a popular choice in those countries where a full
doctoral degree would take five or more years to achieve.
In some other major countries, such as
France, or
Belgium or
Poland, a license is achieved before the master's degree (it takes 3 years of studies to become
licentiate
and 2 additional years to become Master) in France, while in Belgium
the license takes 4 years while the master itself takes 2 more years. In
Switzerland, a license is a 4-year degree then there is a
DEA degree which is equivalent to the
Master's degree. In
Portugal, before the
Bologna process,
students would become licentiates after 5 years of studies (4 years in
particular cases like Marketing, Management, etc.; and 6 years for
Medicine). However, since the adoption of the
Bologna Process
engineering degrees in Portugal were changed from a 5 year license to a
3 year license followed by 2 years for the MSc: Not having the MSc
doesn't confer accreditation by the
Ordem dos Engenheiros)
See also
Intellectual property-related:
Other:
References
- Jump up ^ See, for instance, the British Government's webpage "Open Government Licence for public sector information". National Archives (UK). Retrieved 20 September 2012.
- Jump up ^ See, for instance, the Indian Government's webpage "How Do I? Obtain Driving Licence: Haryana". Government of India, National Portal. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
- Jump up ^ See, for instance, the Canadian Government's webpage"Driver's Licence". Service Canada, Government of Canada. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
- Jump up ^ See, for instance, the Australian Government's webpage "Registration and licences". Australian Government. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
- Jump up ^ See, for instance, the New Zealand Government's webpage "Your driver licence". NZ Transport Agency, New Zealand Government. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
- Jump up ^ See, for instance, the South African Government's webpage "Renew your driver's licence card". South African government. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
- Jump up ^ Intellectual Property Licensing: Forms and Analysis, by Richard Raysman, Edward A. Pisacreta and Kenneth A. Adler. Law Journal Press, 1999-2008. ISBN 973588520869
- Jump up ^ Licensing Intellectual Property: Law & Management, by Raman Mittal. Satyam Law International, New Delhi, India, 2011. ISBN 978-81-902883-4-7.
External links
Wikibooks
