When licensing content, such as text, images, audio or video files, for use in an intranet, it is important to understand the terms and conditions to include in your license agreement. Essentially, a license agreement is a contract that is legally binding between parties, in which the owner of the content allows another party the use of the content for a specified purpose. This article, the first in a series of three articles, explains some important issues to consider when licensing content for use in an intranet.

What content is being licensed?
You must first determine what exactly you want to license from a content owner. For example, do you want to license a photograph or an article for inclusion on your intranet? Be specific in spelling out in your agreement what it is that you want to license. Describe it, and if possible, attach to the agreement a copy of the content. 

What rights are granted to you?
The licensing process involves a content owner allowing another party to use his or her content in a specific manner. It is important to determine what rights the content owner is granting to you as this determines how the content can be used. For example, can the content be downloaded and printed by intranet users? Can intranet users browse or search the content? Can the content be e-mailed to others on the intranet, or to persons outside of the intranet? How will you balance the requirements of the content owner with the needs of the intranet users? The needs of both are important considerations to think about during the licensing process. Undue restrictions on the use of content may require you to look at alternative content providers for your licensing needs.
 

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