In a recent Westlaw Today, AJ Zottola and Channing Gatewood examined key considerations for drafting and negotiating data licensing agreements, including strategic rationale, contractual mechanics and privacy compliance. The following is an excerpt:
Armand J. "A.J." Zottola and Channing D. Gatewood of Venable LLP discuss key considerations for data licensing agreements, including the rationale for entering them, drafting mechanics and compliance with privacy laws.
Whether it is requested for advertising, business partnering, or distribution, a data license is often at the center of today's business arrangements. A data license involves granting another entity or person (licensee) permission to use the data of the granting party (licensor) subject to certain restrictions.
"Restrictions" can include several factors, such as the length of time during which and the purposes for which the licensee may use the data.
To be licensed effectively to another party, "data" must qualify for some form of intellectual property or proprietary rights protection, such as a copyright or trade secret asset, to enable the licensor to claim exclusive or controlling rights to the data.
Before entering into a data licensing agreement, an organization should consider three primary issues:
(1) The rationale for entering into a data licensing agreement
(2) The complexity or mechanics of the licensing agreement
(3) Compliance obligations, and conditions under which a company may license in or out a certain type of data
Read the full article here.