Virginia Code 59.1-508.15: Right to possession and to prevent use
(a) On cancellation of a license, the licensor has the right:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 59.1-508.15
- Cancellation: means the ending of a contract by a party because of breach of contract by another party. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Contract: means the total legal obligation resulting from the parties' agreement as affected by this chapter and other applicable law. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Course of performance: means repeated performances, under a contract that involves repeated occasions for performance, which are accepted or acquiesced in without objection by a party having knowledge of the nature of the performance and an opportunity to object to it. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Court: includes an arbitration or other dispute-resolution forum if the parties have agreed to use of that forum or its use is required by law. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Information: means data, text, images, sounds, mask works, or computer programs, including collections and compilations of them. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Informational rights: include all rights in information created under laws governing patents, copyrights, mask works, trade secrets, trademarks, publicity rights, or any other law that gives a person, independently of contract, a right to control or preclude another person's use of or access to the information on the basis of the rights holder's interest in the information. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- License: means a contract that authorizes access to, or use, distribution, performance, modification, or reproduction of, information or informational rights, but expressly limits the access or uses authorized or expressly grants fewer than all rights in the information, whether or not the transferee has title to a licensed copy. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Licensee: means a person entitled by agreement to acquire or exercise rights in, or to have access to or use of, computer information under an agreement to which this chapter applies. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Licensor: means a person obligated by agreement to transfer or create rights in, or to give access to or use of, computer information or informational rights in it under an agreement to which this chapter applies. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Party: means a person that engages in a transaction or makes an agreement under this chapter. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
- Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
(1) to possession of all copies of the licensed information in the possession or control of the licensee and any other materials pertaining to that information which by contract are to be returned or delivered by the licensee to the licensor; and
(2) to prevent the continued exercise of contractual and informational rights in the licensed information under the license.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in § 59.1-508.14, a licensor may exercise his rights under subsection (a) without judicial process only if this can be done:
(1) without a breach of the peace;
(2) without a foreseeable risk of personal injury or significant physical damage to information or property other than the licensed information; and
(3) in accordance with § 59.1-508.16.
(c) In a judicial proceeding, the court may enjoin a licensee in breach of contract from continued use of the information and informational rights and may order the licensor or a judicial officer to take the steps described in § 59.1-506.18.
(d) A party has a right to an expedited judicial hearing on a request for prejudgment relief to enforce or protect its rights under this section.
(e) The right to possession under this section is not available to the extent that the information, before breach of the license and in the ordinary course of performance under the license, was so altered or commingled that the information is no longer identifiable or separable.
(f) A licensee that provides information to a licensor subject to contractual use terms has the rights and is subject to the limitations of a licensor under this section with respect to the information he provides.