Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A person who grants another permission to use or occupy land or other property. The grant creates a privilege that remains subject to the licensor's control unless expenditures or other circumstances render the license irrevocable under applicable rules.
Lorenzo Lugo told Levi Lowe he could operate a gravel pit on Lugo's ranch for at least ten years. Lowe spent substantial sums installing equipment in reliance on that statement. When Lugo later attempted to revoke the permission after only two years, Lowe remained entitled to continue the use long enough to recover his investment.
The City of Los Angeles granted Taxpayers for Vincent a permit to post political signs on public property. After the city revoked the permit and removed the signs, the organization challenged the revocation as an invalid prior restraint. The court examined whether the city's action as licensor improperly censored protected speech.
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The City of Griffin required Lola Langley to obtain a license before distributing religious literature on city streets. Langley refused to apply, arguing the licensing scheme gave the city manager unfettered discretion. The court considered whether the city's role as licensor violated the First Amendment by subjecting the press to prior restraint.
United States Gypsum Co. licensed several manufacturers to produce gypsum board under its patents. The licenses contained royalty and pricing terms that the government later challenged as anticompetitive. The court evaluated whether the licensor's conditions on the licensees exceeded the scope of the patent grant.
IRM Corp. permitted a tenant to occupy an apartment under a lease that functioned as a license for certain common areas. After a defect caused injury, the tenant sued the licensor for failing to maintain the premises. The court assessed the scope of duties the licensor owed to the licensee.
Cartier, Inc. licensed K Mart Corp. to sell gray-market goods bearing its marks. Customs later seized shipments, prompting a dispute over whether the licensor's approval of the distribution channel was valid. The court examined the licensor's authority to control downstream sales through license terms.
A license becomes irrevocable when the licensee makes capital or labor expenditures in reasonable reliance on the licensor's representations about the license's duration. The licensee may then continue the permitted use to the extent necessary to realize on those expenditures.
When a license has become irrevocable through the licensee's expenditures, the licensee receives protection against interference by third persons with the use the license permits.
A licensee in ordinary course is a person who obtains a license of a general intangible in good faith, without knowledge of any violation of another's rights, and in the ordinary course from a licensor in the business of licensing such intangibles.
…it to license and censorship. The struggle for the freedom of the press was primarily directed against the power of the licensor. It was against that power that John Milton directed his assault by his “Appeal for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing.” And the liberty of the press became initially a right to publish…