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A software license is a legal agreement which may take the form of a proprietary or gratuitous license as well as a memorandum of contract between a producer and a user of computer software. A user may be any legal entity or an "end user", in which case the software license is — sometimes called an End User License Agreement (EULA, often pronounced YOO-lah) — that specifies the perimeters of the permission granted by the owner to the user. It has been suggested that Licensing (strategic alliance) be merged into this article or section. ...
A contract is a promise or an agreement that is enforced or recognized by the law. ...
A screenshot of computer software in action. ...
If the software license is between the software owner (licensor or producer) and a business or government entity, it should be regarded as a specialized form of contract with many terms (clauses) unique to the license and the nature of the software being licensed.
EULAs and shrink-wrapping Most end user license agreements (EULAs) accompany shrink wrapped software that is presented to a user sometimes on paper or more usually electronically, during the installation procedure. The user has the choice of accepting or rejecting the agreement. The installation of the software is conditional to the user accepting the agreement and thereby agreeing to abide by its terms. Shrink wrap contracts are license agreements or other terms and conditions of a (putatively) contractual nature which can only be read and accepted by the consumer after opening the product. ...
Some computer companies view the EULAs more as an elaborate liability disclaimer than a real contract. It is not uncommon for a user to be unable to read the license before proceeding with starting up a computer they have just bought (which the computer might require on an on-screen message), because no printed copy of the license is included. Users almost invariably click on "Accept" without reading the license.
EULAs often can contain very restrictive terms that are surprising. For example, the version 7 of a popular image-viewing application ACDSee prohibits its use for viewing pornographic materials in the EULA (section 3.4 - Use Restrictions). ACDSee is a shareware image viewer software for Windows developed by ACD Systems. ...
It is unclear whether EULA licenses are enforceable in the United States (see shrink wrap contracts). Shrink wrap contracts are license agreements or other terms and conditions of a (putatively) contractual nature which can only be read and accepted by the consumer after opening the product. ...
Copyright The amendment of the United States Code, Chapter 17, codified as 17 USC 117, permits the owner of a copy of a computer program to make copies necessary for the use or backup of a computer program.
Until 117 was enacted, the very act of copying computer software from a storage device into temporary memory may have been prohibited in the United States. Typically, a proprietary software license will interpret 117 in plain English. For example: "You may use the software on one computer, and you may make an additional copy to be used only for backup or archival purposes. You may not otherwise copy, modify [...] the software."
However, a growing number of such licenses are using a loophole in 117 that exploits a distinction between the "owner" of a copy and one who merely "possesses" a copy by purporting to create a rental agreement in which the publisher of the software retains ownership of the medium on which the software is shipped. Renting is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good owned by another person or company. ...
Product liability Most licenses for software sold at retail disclaim (as far as local laws permit) any warranty on the performance of the software and limit liability for any damages to the purchase price of the software In business law, a warranty is a promise that something sold is as factually stated or legally implied by the seller. ...
Patent Some countries, such as the United States, allow the patenting of a generic computer that runs a novel algorithm. A software license may grant limited non-exclusive rights under applicable patents that the publisher holds. Flowcharts are often used to represent algorithms. ...
Trade secret Some software licenses prohibit users from reverse engineering the software. Publishers claim to use this to protect their trade secrets embodied in the software, but some have a different motive, namely making it much more difficult to create software that interoperates with the licensed software. Reverse engineering (RE) is the process of taking something (a device, an electrical component, a software program, etc. ...
Other licenses prohibit users from releasing data on the performance of the software.
Access to network services Some proprietary software acts as a client for a network application and requires users to give up rights in consideration for access to a service. For example, the license of versions 4.0 and later of the AOL Instant Messenger client software prohibit users who have installed the software from ever accessing the service through third-party software such as Trillian, Gaim, or Everybuddy. A computer network is a system for communication between computers. ...
AIM redirects here. ...
Trillian is a multiprotocol instant messaging application for Windows created by Cerulean Studios that can connect to multiple IM programs from one client, such as AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Bonjour, Jabber, and Skype networks (the latter four with Trillian Pro which allows for additonal...
Buddylist of Gaim 1. ...
Enforceability The forceability of an EULA depends on several factors, one of them being the court in which the case is heard. Most courts that have addressed the validity of the shrinkwrap license have found them to be invalid, characterizing them as contracts of adhesion, unconscionable, and/or unacceptable pursuant to the U.C.C. —see, for instance, Step-Saver Data Systems, Inc. v. Wyse Technology (939 F.2d 91), Vault Corp. v. Quaid Software Ltd. (at harvard.edu) and Rich, Mass Market Software and the Shrinkwrap License (23 Colo. Law 1321.17). A minority of courts have determined that the shrinkwrap license is valid and enforceable: see ProCD, Inc. v. Zeidenberg (at findlaw.com), Microsoft v. Harmony Computers (846 F. Supp. 208, 212, E.D.N.Y. 1994), Novell v. Network Trade Center (at harvard.edu), and Arizona Cartridge Remanufacturers Association Inc. v. Lexmark International Inc. may have some bearing as well. Holding A written license and warranty disclaimer on the box-top of a software package did not become part of a binding contract when the software was purchased. ...
ProCD, Inc. ...
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York is the Federal district court whose jurisdiction is comprised of the entirety of Long Island and Staten Island. ...
Arizona Cartridge Remanufacturers Association Inc. ...
The 7th Circuit and 8th Circuit subscribe to the "license" and "not sold" arguments, while most other circuits do not. In addition, the contracts' enforceability depends on whether the state has passed Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) or Anti-UCITA (UCITA Bomb Shelter) laws. In Anti-UCITA states, the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) has been amended to either specifically define software as a good (thus making it fall under the UCC), or to disallow contracts which specify that the terms of contract are subject to the laws of a state that's passed UCITA. The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States district courts: Central, Northern, and Southern Districts of Illinois Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin The court is based at the Dirksen...
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States district courts: Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa District of Minnesota Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri District of Nebraska District of...
The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) is a proposed law to create a clear and uniform set of rules to govern such areas as software licensing, online access, and other transactions in computer information. ...
The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) is one of the uniform acts that has been promulgated in attempts to harmonize the law of sales and other commercial transactions in the fifty state in the United States of America. ...
Recently, publishers have begun to encrypt their software packages to make it impossible for a user to install the software without agreeing to the license or violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and foreign counterparts. In cryptography, encryption is the process of obscuring information to make it unreadable without special knowledge. ...
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a controversial United States copyright law. ...
The WIPO Copyright Treaty, adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1996, provides additional protections for copyright deemed necessary in the modern information era. ...
The DMCA specifically provides for reverse engineering of software for interoperability purposes, so there was some controversy as to whether software license clauses which restrict this are enforceable. The case of Blizzard v. BnetD (at eff.org) is an illustration of this controversy. Blizzard v. ...
Abandonware Abandonware is computer software which is no longer being sold or supported by its copyright holder. Alternatively, the term is also used for software which is still available, but on which further support and development has been deliberately discontinued. Although copyright and a licence may still exist, it is no longer actively protected, represented and supported. Screenshot of Sopwith, an example of abandonware Abandonware is computer software which is no longer being sold or supported by its copyright holder. ...
See also A clickwrap agreement (also known as a clickthrough agreement or clickwrap license) is a common type of software license found on the Internet. ...
An open-source license is a copyright license for computer software that makes the source code available under terms that allow for modification and redistribution without having to pay the original author. ...
In computing, software that is copyrighted and licensed under a software license is done so principally under two categories of licensing schemes. ...
Licence-free software is software that is copyrighted but which is not accompanied by a software licence. ...
Screenshot of Sopwith, an example of abandonware Abandonware is computer software which is no longer being sold or supported by its copyright holder. ...
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