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Encyclopedia of Database Systems pp 1610–1612Cite as

Licensing and Contracting Issues in Databases

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License

Definition

A contract is a legally binding agreement between two or more parties usually formed when each party promises to do some action not otherwise required or to refrain from taking some action not otherwise required. In this context, a license is a grant of rights or permission by the owner of rights under copyright in a database. The key differences between a copyright license and a contractual database license are who is subject to the license and the consequences of breaching the license. A breach of a copyright license usually exposes the breaching party to liability for copyright infringement, which can include remedies such as injunctions, statutory damages, and disgorgement of profits. In contrast, a breach of contract exposes the breaching party to liability for the database owner’s actual damages, which must be proven with reasonable certainty. Oftentimes, legal agreements styled as “terms of use” or as licenses in relation to databases are technically...

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Recommended Reading

  1. Association of Research Libraries, Principles for Licensing Electronic Resources at http://www.arl.org/sc/licensing/licprinciples.shtml.

  2. Bowers V. Baystate Techs., 320:F.3d 1317, 1320, Fed. Cir. 2003.

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  3. Greater Western Library Alliance Guidelines for Licensing Electronic Information Resources at http://www.gwla.org/reports/licensing.html.

  4. Mark A. Lemley. Terms of use. Univ. of Minnesota Law Rev., 91:459–483, 2006.

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  5. ProCD V. Zeidenberg, 86:F.3d 1447, 7th Cir. 1996.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Villanova University School of Law, Villanova, PA, USA

    Michael W. Carroll

Authors
  1. Michael W. Carroll
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, 266 Ferst Drive, 30332-0765, Atlanta, GA, USA

    LING LIU (Professor) (Professor)

  2. Database Research Group David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    M. TAMER ÖZSU (Professor and Director, University Research Chair) (Professor and Director, University Research Chair)

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© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Carroll, M. (2009). Licensing and Contracting Issues in Databases. In: LIU, L., ÖZSU, M.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-39940-9_1518

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