The term of license agreements are legal documents between the licensor and licensee that grant certain rights for using licensed materials. Publishing typically uses licenses as an agreement that gives another party permission to print, distribute, and sell copies of works under specific contract terms. For instance, how many copies can be printed, how they will be used, and their validity period.
Licenses can either be exclusive or non-exclusive. A non-exclusive license grants its subject matter to multiple parties who can use it legally. An exclusive license grants exclusive rights to the licensee, while an exclusive one entails that only one party can utilize its contents in a particular way. It also grants exclusive use rights only for one entity. In contrast, its creators retain sole use rights while still allowing them to license their use to other parties.
Publishing requires many different licenses; more prevalent options include print, digital, and syndication licenses.
Print licenses allow the licensee the rights to reproduce and sell copies of works to the general public, subject to specific parameters that specify how many copies may be created and for what purposes.
Licenses permit individuals to do something they wouldn’t be able to otherwise – for instance, using copyrighted movie songs without incurring legal consequences.
A license agreement’s length is paramount as it determines how long an individual can use licensed material. An agreement could leave little time for full exploitation of material by the licensee; too long an arrangement might result in inaccessible materials or higher expenses to return them.