License

To grant license or licence is to give permission. License may be granted by a party ("licensor") to another party ("licensee") as an element of an agreement between those parties.

Occupational

Obtaining a license is required of a number of occupations and professions where maintenance of standards is required to protect public safety, for example physicians, psychologists, and electricians are often licensed by the government or professional societies.

Intellectual Property

A licensor may grant license under "intellectual property" to do something (such as copy software or use a patented invention) without fear of a claim of intellectual property infringement brought by the licensor.

A license under intellectual property commonly has several component parts, including a term, territory, renewal, as well as 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.

Territory: a license may stipulate what territory the rights pertain to. For example, a license with a territory limited to "North America" would not permit a licensee any protection for actions in Japan.

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.

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.

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 Kincaid'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 licensor.

Academia

File:Criminal law authorized reprint.jpg

A book published in the U.S. and its licensed Chinese reprint (for sale in Mainland China only)

A licence is an academic degree in many European universities which is approximately equivalent to a master's 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 doctorate is typically needed in order to teach at a university. A person who holds a licence is called a licentiate. Currently, a licence is a middle-level degree between a master's degree and a doctorate.

In some countries, i.e. Poland or France, a licence is achieved before the master's degree (it takes 3 years of studies to become licentiate and additional 2 years to become master).

External links

Industry Merchandiser's Association
Broad Street Licensing Group (useful information about licensing from a licensing agency)
Danish local government rebels against MS license terms
Licensing Act 2003 - England & Wales
Technology Licensing Practices in France by Christian Bessy and Eric Brousseau - survey of patenting and licensing strategies in France