EXCLUSIVITY
DEFINITION
Exclusivity is a license term that prevents the rights owner from granting the same rights to anyone else, including sometimes themselves, within the defined scope, territory, and term.
WHAT IT MEANS IN PRACTICE
Exclusive rights are worth more than non-exclusive rights precisely because they remove competition, which is why exclusive licenses should command a higher fee than a non-exclusive grant of the same use.
Exclusivity can be scoped narrowly, for example exclusive only within a specific industry or territory, letting a maker license the same work elsewhere for a different use. A blanket exclusive grant with no such carve-out is far more restrictive than most makers realise when signing.
In some deals exclusivity even runs against the original creator, meaning the maker themselves cannot use their own work in the exclusive scope for the length of the term, which is a meaningfully different bargain than a simple non-exclusive license.
AN EXAMPLE
Rosa grants a beverage company an exclusive license to use her illustration on packaging in the food and drink category for three years. She remains free to license the same illustration for a clothing brand, since the exclusivity was scoped to beverages only.
WATCH OUT
Signing away exclusivity without a narrow scope can block a maker from licensing their own work to anyone else, including themselves, for the whole term.
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