"Whether this [act] constitutes a gratuitous license, or
one for a reasonable compensation, must, of course, depend upon
the circumstances; but the relation between the parties
thereafter in respect of any suit brought must be held to be
contractual, and not an unlawful invasion of the rights of the
owner."
De Forest Radio Tel. & Tel. Co.
v. United States, 273 U.S. 236, (1927)
"Whether express or implied, a license is a contract
'governed by ordinary principles of state contract
law.'"
McCoy v. Mitsuboshi Cutlery, Inc., 67.
F.3d 917, (Fed. Cir. 1995)
"Normal rules of contract construction are generally
applied in construing copyright agreements. Nimmer on Copyright
sec. 10.08. Under Wisconsin law, contracts are to be construed
as they are written. When the language is plain and unambiguous,
a reviewing court must construe the contract as it stands. In
construing the contract, terms are to be given their plain and
ordinary meaning." (citations omitted).
Kennedy v. Nat’l Juvenile Det.
Ass’n, 187 F.3d 690, (7th Cir. 1999)
"Although the United States Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C.
§§ 101-1332, grants exclusive jurisdiction for
infringement claims to the federal courts, those courts construe
copyrights as contracts and turn to the relevant state law to
interpret them."
Automation by Design, Inc. v.
Raybestos Products Co., 463 F3d 749, (7th Cir. 2006)
"However, implicit in a nonexclusive license is the promise
not to sue for copyright infringement. See In re CFLC, Inc., 89
F.3d 673, 677 (9th Cir. 1996), citing De Forest Radio Telephone
Co. v. United States, 273 U.S. 236, 242 (1927) (finding that a
nonexclusive license is, in essence, a mere waiver of the right
to sue the licensee for infringement); see also Effects
Associates, Inc. v. Cohen, 908 F.2d 555, 558 (9th Cir. 1990)
(holding that the granting of a nonexclusive license may be oral
or by conduct and a such a license creates a waiver of the right
to sue in copyright, but not the right to sue for breach of
contract)."
Jacobsen v. Katzer, No. 3:06-cv-01905,
(N.D. Cal. 2007)