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The verb license or grant license means to give permission. The noun licence (British English,[1] Indian English,[2] Canadian English,[3] Australian English,[4] New Zealand English,[5] South African English[6]) or license (American English) refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.







It is undeniable that intellectual property licensing plays a major role in today's business and economy. Business practices such as franchising, technology transfer, publication and character merchandising entirely depend on the licensing of intellectual property. Licensing has been recognised as an independent branch of law. It is born out of the interplay of the doctrine of contract and the principles of intellectual property.[citation needed]

Mass licensing of software[edit]



The enforceability of end-user license agreements is sometimes questioned.

Trademark and brand licensing[edit]


Artwork and character licensing[edit]




National examples of the License are listed at Licentiate

A license is an academic degree. Originally, in order to teach at a university, one needed this degree which, according to its title, gave the bearer a license to teach. The name survived despite the fact that nowadays a doctorate is typically needed in order to teach at a university. A person who holds a license is called a licentiate.

In Sweden, Finland, and in some other European university systems, a license or 'Licentiate' is a postgraduate degree between the master's degree and the doctorate. The Licentiate is a popular choice in those countries where a full doctoral degree would take five or more years to achieve.

In some other major countries, such as France, Belgium or Poland, a license is achieved before the master's degree (it takes 3 years of studies to become licentiate and 2 additional years to become Master) in France, while in Belgium the license takes 4 years while the master itself takes 2 more years. In Switzerland, a license is a 4-year degree then there is a DEA degree which is equivalent to the Master's degree. In Portugal, before the Bologna process, students would become licentiates after 5 years of studies (4 years in particular cases like Marketing, Management, etc.; and 6 years for Medicine). However, since the adoption of the Bologna Process engineering degrees in Portugal were changed from a 5 year license to a 3 year license followed by 2 years for the MSc: Not having the MSc does not confer accreditation by the Ordem dos Engenheiros.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ See, for instance, the British Government's webpage "Open Government Licence for public sector information". National Archives (UK). Retrieved 20 September 2012. 
  2. ^ See, for instance, the Indian Government's webpage "How Do I? Obtain Driving Licence: Haryana". Government of India, National Portal. Retrieved 20 September 2012. 
  3. ^ See, for instance, the Canadian Government's webpage"Driver's Licence". Service Canada, Government of Canada. Retrieved 20 September 2012. 
  4. ^ See, for instance, the Australian Government's webpage "Registration and licences". Australian Government. Retrieved 20 September 2012. 
  5. ^ See, for instance, the New Zealand Government's webpage "Your driver licence". NZ Transport Agency, New Zealand Government. Retrieved 20 September 2012. 
  6. ^ See, for instance, the South African Government's webpage "Renew your driver's licence card". South African government. Retrieved 6 October 2012. 

External links[edit]