Agreement · Intellectual Property — Patents, Trade Marks, Copyright, Designs
Exclusive copyright licence agreement (signed in writing to meet the Copyright Act definition)
A licence of copyright to one licensee to the exclusion of everyone, including the owner, for set rights, media, territory and term: grant, reserved rights, royalties, moral rights, warranties, enforcement, reversion and signing to meet the Act's definition.
- Kind
- Agreement. A contract between two or more parties.
- Where it applies
- Australia
- AI use
- Yellow AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at
- 18 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 18 October 2026 against the 3 authorities it cites, for Australia.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when the owner of copyright in software, text, images, music, film or other material wants to give one party exclusive rights for a period or territory without assigning ownership. If the client needs to own the copyright outright, use the assignment deed instead.
How AI may be used
AI may prepare the rights schedule and fill the agreement from the term sheet and the chain-of-title documents; a lawyer settles the scope of the exclusive grant, reserved rights and reversion and confirms the owner can grant it.
AI may
- Build the schedule of works, rights, media, territory and term from the term sheet
- Check the chain-of-title documents supplied and list gaps, earlier licences and moral rights consents
- Calculate example royalty statements from figures the lawyer supplies
AI must not
- Must not conclude that the licensor owns the copyright or that no earlier licence conflicts
- Must not widen the rights granted beyond the term sheet
- Must not reproduce the licensed work in a tool outside the approved environment
The lawyer checks
- Licensor's ownership and any earlier licences or assignments checked, including employee and contractor works
- The licence is in writing and signed by or on behalf of the owner so it meets the s 10(1) definition
- Exclusivity binds the owner too, and reserved rights and holdbacks are clear
- Enforcement, reversion and post-term rights work for both sides
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
More in Intellectual Property — Patents, Trade Marks, Copyright, Designs
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- Research collaboration contract (Australian IP Toolkit for Collaboration and HERC IP Framework) — use guide
- Clause set: ownership of AI-generated output and training-data rights (with warranties and indemnities)
- Memo: AI contribution, inventorship and authorship before filing
All precedents for Intellectual Property — Patents, Trade Marks, Copyright, Designs · Tasks and AI use in this area