Agreements and licenses

Data licenses

You can use a data license to describe ways that data can be used without having to enter into a formal agreement, providing the user complies with a specified set of conditions. It is suitable for:

  • generic agreements
  • covering the non-commercial restriction on data usage
  • requiring any user give credit to the rights holder
How does a data license differ from a data sharing agreement?
  • Permission is granted in advance, rather than on request for access
  • Permission is not time-limited
  • It applies to everyone involved
  • A user does not typically sign an open data license
  • It usually contains at most three sets of conditions:
  1. What must be done by the user
  2. What can be done by the user
  3. What cannot be done by the user

Graphic indicating characteristics such as permission of data licenses