License

A license granted by the holder of a patent or a copyright on literary or artistic work gives the license holder a limited right to reproduce, sell, or distribute the work. Likewise, the owner of a TRADEMARK may give another person a license to use the mark in a region where the owner's goods have not become known and associated with the owner's use of the mark. These INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY licenses usually require that the licensee pay a fee to the licensor in exchange for use of the property. For example, computer software companies sell licenses to their products. In the licensing agreement users are informed that although they possess a disk containing the software, they have actually only purchased a license to operate it. The license typically forbids giving the software to someone else, making copies of it, or running it on more than one computer at a time.