Software license

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A software license is a license that grants permission to do things with computer software. The usual goal is to authorise activities which are prohibited by default by copyright law, patent law, trademark law and any other intellectual property right. The reason for the license, essentially, is that virtually all intellectual property laws were enacted to encourage disclosure of the intellectual property. As software is so easily replicated, disclosure is not an option that most software vendors would prefer to avail themselves to. The result is that the vendors need an alternate method of allowing the licensed user to use the product but still be restricted so as to prevent certain decompiling rights the user might otherwise have as a result of the default intellectual property rights.

Typically, then, the software license is a complex document, identifying the specific usage rights that are granted to the licensee, while also stating the license limitations. For example, a software license might give permission to allow a certain number of concurrent users of the software. This means that at any given point in time, a limit exists on the number of people who can use the software. As a specific user stops using the program, then another, different, user can start to use the program. Compare and contrast this with a named user model, whereby the software is licensed to specific individuals. Regardless of whether the named individual is actually using the product or not, another individual is not licensed to use that same copy of the software.

A software vendor may offer a software license unilaterally (without giving the licensee the opportunity to negotiate for more favorable terms), or even as part of a software license agreement with another party. Virtually all proprietary software is sold under some form or fashion of software license agreement, including free software and open source software which are usually distributed under the terms of their EULA.

Failure to abide by the terms of the license can subject the violator to the default penalties for violations of intellectual property laws in and if so allowed by the geographic region of the licensor, as well as any contractually agreed-upon damages listed in the software license.