District of Columbia License Forms

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District of Columbia License Forms FAQ

What is a license?

A license or permit is an offical authorization to do something that the person would not be entitled to do without the license or permit. A license is a contractual right that gives someone permission to do a certain activity or to use certain property owned by someone else.

License fees may be imposed, but must be reasonable and not so expensive as to prevent persons from the right to pursue a trade or occupation. Licensing may be used to raise revenue or to fund the regulation of activities. Any qualifications attached to the issuance of the license must meet constitutional due process requirements and not be discriminative. Training, educational, or financial responsibility qualifications may be required. Background information on the applicant may be required when reasonably related to the issuance of the license and not based upon discriminatory reasons.

What is a licensing agreement?

A licensing agreement is an agreement between two enterprises allowing one to sell the other's property such as products or services and to use their name, sales literature, trademarks, copyrights, etc. in a limited manner. Besides license agreement terms, federal laws provide stiff civil and criminal penalties for pirating and other unauthorized use of other's property.

For example, many inventors and technology companies use patented methods and closely-held practices as the basis of licensing activity. Under a know-how or technology license, the licensee is enabled to deploy a design or use a patented process in his or her own manufacturing activities. The practice is as old as patent law and is present in all of the modern arts of production. Wherever the focus of invention is most intense, there new technologies spring up and are spread by licensing. In the mid-2000s these techniques were mushrooming in electronics, pharmaceuticals, genetic manipulation, alternative energy, and exotic materials technologies, while, at the same time, continuing in traditional fields like mechanics and chemical and petrochemical processing.