How to read licenses to understand your rights

Royalty free software products and content owners, as well as video game publishers, often spell out your commercial use rights to their content, or content you created using their software, in their license agreements.

YouTube is not in a position to offer legal advice or to counsel you in any way. However, below are some tips to locate and read terms set by copyright holders.

• License agreements can be located on the publisher/content owner’s website.
• The licenses may be found in a number of places, so try searching for terms of use, grant of rights, terms and conditions, sharing, FAQs.
• License agreements may explain the rights granted to licensees or end users and it is incumbent on you to appropriately read and interpret the license.
• Some publishers have different types of licenses that grant different sets of rights to authorized content, so please ensure that the license you buy best suits your needs.
• In addition to the license terms, you may also need to check the artists individual terms before using their content commercially.

For clear interpretation, please reach out to the license owner and clarify that you have all the commercial use rights to their content.

The above material is being provided solely for educational purposes and is not legal advice. You should only seek legal advice from a lawyer or legal representative.