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Copyright Licensing
As a copyright owner, you have the availability to control the reproduction, distribution and use of your creative work. Each of these rights is separate and distinct. Consequently, you may allow a publisher to reproduce only a certain number of your works and sell them in a limited geographic area. You may then allow a second publisher to operate in a different locale.
You may also control who uses your work and for what purpose. For instance, you may limit the use of your software to a certain number of concurrent users, or limit the number of computers on which it is installed by a particular client. A photographer or artist may limit the number of prints which will be reproduced for resale by a gallery, or limit a corporate client’s use of a particular print to a certain number of advertising brochures or to a particular web site. Use may also be restricted to a certain amount of time, such as use of graphic art in an ad campaign for a period of 18 months.
A copyright owner controls these individual rights which comprise his copyright through the use of a License Agreement, also referred to simply as a License. A License is a contract entered into between the copyright owner and a person(s) or entity to whom the copyright owner wishes to grant rights in the copyright protected work. It will describe what works are being licensed, the use to which the client can put the work, and, most importantly, the royalties (fees) which the client will pay to the copyright owner for the described use. Sometimes the royalty is paid once when the License is signed (a lump sum royalty). At other times royalty payments are tied to actual use of the work for a specific time period, or for the life of the License. The License will also set forth certain warranties and representations, and will describe the rights and remedies available to the parties in the event of a default by either party in satisfying the terms of the License.
A carefully crafted License will enable a copyright owner to fully exploit and protect the value of her work, and in the process maximize the compensation she will obtain from its creation and use.