Data Licensing

Data licensing is the legal framework governing how data may be used, shared, modified, and redistributed. A data license grants specific rights to a recipient while retaining others for the licensor. Common terms include permitted use cases, geographic restrictions, redistribution rights, and duration of access.

When subscribing to a data API, you implicitly accept a data license - the API's terms of service. These typically permit using the data in your application but prohibit reselling the raw data, building a competing product, or exceeding the access rate stipulated in your subscription tier.

Understanding data licensing is essential before committing to a data source in a production product. Licenses vary significantly between providers: some permit only internal use, others allow commercial redistribution with attribution, and some restrict use to specific industries. Review terms before building a business on any external data source.