Main articles: Clickwrap, Browsewrap, and Shrink wrap contract No agreement between parties is ever held, because a copyright license is simply a declaration of permissions on something that otherwise would be disallowed by default under copyright law. Unlike EULAs, free software licenses do not work as contractual extensions to existing legislation. Copyleft licenses also include a key addition provision that must be followed in order to copy or modify the software, that requires the user to provide source code for the work and to distribute their modifications under the same license (or sometimes a compatible one) thus effectively protecting derivative works from losing the original permissions and being used in proprietary programs. These licenses typically include a disclaimer of warranty, but this feature is not unique to free software. Comparison with free software licenses Ī free software license grants users of that software the rights to use for any purpose, modify and redistribute creative works and software, both of which are forbidden by the defaults of copyright, and generally not granted with proprietary software. Such EULAs are, in essence, efforts to gain control, by contract, over matters upon which copyright law precludes control. Some copyright owners use EULAs in an effort to circumvent limitations the applicable copyright law places on their copyrights (such as the limitations in sections 107–122 of the United States Copyright Act), or to expand the scope of control over the work into areas for which copyright protection is denied by law (such as attempting to charge for, regulate or prevent private performances of a work beyond a certain number of performances or beyond a certain period of time). Some EULAs also claim restrictions on venue and applicable law in the event that a legal dispute arises. One case upholding such limitations on consequential damages is M.A. Most commonly, an EULA will attempt to hold harmless the software licensor in the event that the software causes damage to the user's computer or data, but some software also proposes limitations on whether the licensor can be held liable for damage that arises through improper use of the software (for example, incorrectly using tax preparation software and incurring penalties as a result). Many EULAs assert extensive liability limitations. Software companies often make special agreements with large businesses and government entitles that include support contracts and specially drafted warranties. As the user may not see the agreement until after they have already purchased or engaged with the software, these documents may be contracts of adhesion. įorm contracts for digital services (such as terms of service and privacy policies) were traditionally presented on paper (see shrink-wrap agreement) but are now often presented digitally via browsewrap or clickwrap formats. An EULA specifies in detail the rights and restrictions which apply to the use of the software. ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Īn end-user license agreement or EULA ( / ˈ j uː l ə/) is a legal contract between a software supplier and a customer or end-user, generally made available to the customer via a retailer acting as an intermediary. JSTOR ( July 2008) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: "End-user license agreement" – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.
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