(a) A party adopts the terms of a mass-market license for purposes of § 59.1-502.8 only if the party agrees to the license, such as by manifesting assent, before or during the party’s initial performance or use of or access to the information. A term is not part of the license if:

Terms Used In Virginia Code 59.1-502.9

  • Computer: means an electronic device that accepts information in digital or similar form and manipulates it for a result based on a sequence of instructions. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
  • Computer information: means information in electronic form that is obtained from or through the use of a computer or that is in a form capable of being processed by a computer. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
  • Copy: means the medium on which information is fixed on a temporary or permanent basis and from which it can be perceived, reproduced, used, or communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
  • Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. 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
  • Information processing system: means an electronic system for creating, generating, sending, receiving, storing, displaying, or processing 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
  • Mass-market license: means a standard form used in a mass-market transaction. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2
  • Mass-market transaction: means a transaction that is:

    (A) a consumer contract; or

    (B) any other transaction with an end-user licensee if:

    (i) the transaction is for information or informational rights directed to the general public as a whole, including consumers, under substantially the same terms for the same information;

    (ii) the licensee acquires the information or informational rights in a retail transaction under terms consistent with an ordinary transaction in a retail market; and

    (iii) the transaction is not (a) a contract for redistribution or for public performance or public display of a copyrighted work; (b) a transaction in which the information is customized or otherwise specially prepared by the licensor for the licensee, other than minor customization using a capability of the information intended for that purpose; (c) a site license; or (d) an access contract. 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
  • Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2

(1) the term is unconscionable or is unenforceable under § 59.1-501.5 (a) or (b);

(2) subject to § 59.1-503.1, the term conflicts with a term to which the parties to the license have expressly agreed;

(3) under § 59.1-501.13:1, the licensee does not have an opportunity to review the term before agreeing to it; or

(4) the term is not available for viewing before and after assent:

(A) in a printed license; or

(B) in electronic form that (i) can be printed or stored for archival and review purposes by the licensee or (ii) is made available by a licensor to a licensee, at no cost to the licensee, in a printed form on the request of a licensee who is unable to print or store the license for archival and review purposes.

(b) If a mass-market license or a copy of the license is not available in a manner permitting an opportunity to review by the licensee before the licensee becomes obligated to pay and the licensee does not agree, such as by manifesting assent, to the license after having an opportunity to review, the licensee is entitled to a return under § 59.1-501.12 or § 59.1-501.13:1 and, in addition, to:

(1) reimbursement of any reasonable expenses incurred in complying with the licensor’s instructions for returning or destroying the computer information or, in the absence of instructions, expenses incurred for return postage or similar reasonable expense in returning the computer information; and

(2) compensation for any reasonable and foreseeable costs of restoring the licensee’s information processing system to reverse changes in the system caused by the installation, if:

(A) the installation occurs because information must be installed to enable review of the license; and

(B) the installation alters the system or information in it but does not restore the system or information after removal of the installed information because the licensee rejected the license.

(c) In a mass-market transaction, if the licensor does not have an opportunity to review a record containing proposed terms from the licensee before the licensor delivers or becomes obligated to deliver the information, and if the licensor does not agree, such as by manifesting assent, to those terms after having that opportunity, the licensor is entitled to a return.

2000, cc. 101, 996; 2001, c. 763; 2004, c. 794.