License
Permission from a rights holder — not a transfer of copyright
Related
A licence is permission to use granted by a rights holder: within an agreed scope, territory, term and purpose, the licensee may use a work or recording. It can be exclusive or non-exclusive, paid by royalty or bought out; but it is not a transfer of copyright — ownership stays with the rights holder.
The usual mistake is to think a licence buys the copyright: it buys only the use described in the contract, and going beyond that is infringement. When you read a licence, check four things: what is licensed, where it is used, for how long, and whether it can be sublicensed.
Read deeper → copyright
Sources
- 许可的类型与合同要素，参通行音乐产业教材；本文为通识说明，不构成法律意见
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.