EULA

Home: Software Licenses

Articles

Copyright Issues
Open Source & Derivative Works

GPL Issues
GPL Validity
GPL Violations
WordPress & the GPL

Legal Cases
ProCD v. Zeidenberg
USL v. BSDi

Glossary

Advertising Clause
Click-Through License
Compatible Licenses
Copyleft
Derivative Works
Dual Licensing
EULA
FLOSS
FOSS
Free Software
Incompatible Licenses
OSD
OSI Certified
OSS
Permissive Licenses
Shrink Wrap License
Viral Licenses

Open Source

Licenses
   AGPL
   Apache
   Apple
   Artistic
   BSD
   CDDL
   CPL
   EPL
   GPL v2
   GPL v3
   IPL
   LGPL
   MIT
   Mozilla
   SPL
   X License
   X11 License

Organizations
   ASF
   FSF
   OSI
   SFLC

People
   Bruce Perens
   Eben Moglen
   Eric Raymond
   Lawrence Lessig
   Linus Torvalds
   Richard Stallman

Proprietary Licenses

Licenses
   Closed Source
   Freeware
   Shareware

Organizations
   BSA

Shared Source Licenses

MS Community License
MS Permissive License

Uncopyrighted

Public Domain

Further Reading

Books

Software Licenses > Glossary > EULA

EULA

EULA is short for an End-User License Agreement, and is a contract between the licensor (usually the author/developer) of software and the purchaser/user. The EULA typically grants the purchaser/user the right to use the software, but may also place limitations on permissible uses. Additionally, many EULAs also prohibit reverse engineering (and in some cases even publishing performance data on the software), and some EULas may also place limitations on the licensor's liability (or consequential liability) in the case of disputes, as well as terms and conditions on how disputes should be resolved (such as requiring arbitration and/or specifying the court venue), etc.

EULA's are typically used for proprietary software, and may be displayed on the product packaging, within the product packaging ("shrink-wrap license"), or during the installation process (a "click-through license").

There has been much debate about how enforceable EULA terms and conditions are, and it is not possible to give a general answer. The relevant issues include the jurisdiction (since rules on interpreting and enforcing contracts vary between different legal jurisdictions), whether the purchaser/user could review the terms before making the purchase (if he could not, this might to make the terms less enforceable, unless his subsequent actions suggested consent to the terms), and whether the terms were considered unfair, unconsciousable, or beyond the reasonable expectations of the user/purchaser (since the EULA might be considered a contract of adhesion in some jurisdictions).

Finally it should be noted in the case of ProCD v. Zeidenberg, a US court did find a click-through EULA to be enforceable.

Related Pages

Train For Linux
Online Linux Training Site. A Membership Site With A Mix Of Video And Other Training Materials. Membership Never Expires!

This site is for general information only, and represents the opinions of the authors only. This site was NOT written, NOR reviewed, NOR vetted by lawyers. The content of this site is NOT intended as, NOR should be construed as, legal or professional advice. You should consult a lawyer, if you need a legal opinion or advice on any legal matter.

Copyright © 2007-2023, Answers 2000 Limited

CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE,COMES FROM AMAZON EU S.� r.l. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.

Disclosure: Our company's websites' content (including this website's content) includes advertisements for our own company's websites, products, and services, and for other organization's websites, products, and services. In the case of links to other organization's websites, our company may receive a payment, (1) if you purchase products or services, or (2) if you sign-up for third party offers, after following links from this website. Unless specifically otherwise stated, information about other organization's products and services, is based on information provided by that organization, the product/service vendor, and/or publicly available information - and should not be taken to mean that we have used the product/service in question. Additionally, our company's websites contain some adverts which we are paid to display, but whose content is not selected by us, such as Google AdSense ads. For more detailed information, please see Advertising/Endorsements Disclosures

Our sites use cookies, some of which may already be set on your computer. Use of our site constitutes consent for this. For details, please see Privacy.

Click privacy for information about our company's privacy, data collection and data retention policies, and your rights.

Contact Us Privacy Terms of Use Advertising/Endorsements Disclosures

In Association With Amazon.com
Answers 2000 Limited is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
In Association With Amazon.co.uk
Answers 2000 Limited is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.
As an Amazon Associate, our company earns from qualifying purchases. Amazon, the Amazon logo, Endless, and the Endless logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

All trademarks are property of their respective owners.
All third party content and adverts are copyright of their respective owners.