Also known as: license fees · licence fee · licence fees · licensing fee
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A monetary charge imposed by a governmental authority for the privilege of pursuing a particular occupation, business, or activity. The charge may be accompanied by requirements that the licensee take specified actions or submit to regulations or restrictions.
A payment made under contract for the right to use patented, copyrighted, or other intellectual property. The amount may be a flat sum or calculated as a percentage of sales or usage.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
A monetary charge imposed by a governmental authority for the privilege of pursuing a particular occupation, business, or activity. The charge may be accompanied by requirements that the licensee take specified actions or submit to regulations or restrictions.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Lila Lin and Lorenzo Lugo complete and sign a marriage application. Lila appears before the clerk and pays the statutory marriage license fee. The clerk issues the license and marriage certificate form after confirming both parties meet the age and other statutory requirements.
Landon Long opens a tavern in the Mississippi Territory and pays the annual license fee required by territorial law. The payment allows him to operate the business without facing the disapproval resolution that targeted unlicensed establishments. The fee is collected as part of the territory's regulatory scheme.
The rights qualify as accounts when they represent payment for licensed property or services rendered. The definition of account includes rights to payment for property that has been or is to be licensed. When the fees arise from such licensing, they fall outside the general-intangibles category even if the agreements bundle multiple services into a single invoice.
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The party seeks to protect its restitution interest by recovering the value of the benefit conferred on the breaching party. This measure prevents unjust enrichment rather than enforcing the expectation of future payments or reimbursing the claimant's own expenditures.
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A payment made under contract for the right to use patented, copyrighted, or other intellectual property. The amount may be a flat sum or calculated as a percentage of sales or usage.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Lunar Dynamics manufactures wallboard using patented processes under an agreement with the patent holder. The company pays a license fee equal to three and one-half percent of its selling price on all qualifying products. The payment satisfies the contractual obligation tied to use of the covered inventions.
Lakeshore Industries licenses its copyrighted works for television broadcast. The company receives license fees calculated according to audience ratings compiled by independent services. The fees represent the primary compensation for authorized public performances of the works.
A plaintiff may join any claims against one defendant regardless of whether the claims arise from the same transaction or occurrence. The joinder rule permits adding contract claims for unpaid fees together with tort claims such as misappropriation or defamation in a single action.
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Separate itemization of a software license fee does not prevent purchase-money status when the software is acquired in an integrated transaction with goods and is principally for use in those goods. The integrated nature of the transaction supports extending the purchase-money security interest to the software component.
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…70-71 (1934). Second, on May 9, 1800, the House passed a resolution to disapprove of a Mississippi territorial law imposing a license fee on taverns. H. R. Jour., 6th Cong., 1st Sess., 706 (1826 ed.). The Senate unsuccessfully attempted to amend the resolution to strike down all laws of the Mississippi Territory enacted since…
…and license for television broadcast. They also rent and sell their works on film and on prerecorded videotapes and videodiscs.
…pursuant to § 86 (3) of the San Francisco Municipal Code, which provides that apartment house operators shall pay an annual
…danger of excessive trawling through less restrictive means: restricting the type of equipment used in its fisheries, graduating
…forth and claimed in said patents and applications for letters patent, an amount (hereinafter for convenience referred to as a license fee
Lily Lopez owns an apartment building and pays the annual license fee to the city housing bureau. The fee supports periodic inspections required before the occupancy permit is issued. Payment keeps the building in compliance with the municipal code.
Lance Lee, a resident of State A, seeks admission to practice law in State B. State B requires nonresidents to pay a substantially higher annual license fee than residents pay. The differential fee structure is challenged as burdening the privileges and immunities of out-of-state citizens.