(a) In this section:

Terms Used In Virginia Code 59.1-506.13

  • Agreement: means the bargain of the parties in fact as found in their language or by implication from other circumstances, including course of performance, course of dealing, and usage of trade as provided in this chapter. 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Merchant: means a person:

    (A) who deals in information or informational rights of the kind involved in the transaction;

    (B) who by the person's occupation holds himself out as having knowledge or skill peculiar to the relevant aspect of the business practices or information involved in the transaction; or

    (C) to whom the knowledge or skill peculiar to the practices or information involved in the transaction may be attributed by the person's employment of an agent or broker or other intermediary who by his occupation holds himself out as having the knowledge or skill. 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
  • Receive: means to take receipt. See Virginia Code 59.1-501.2

(1) “Dealer” means a merchant licensee that receives information directly or indirectly from a licensor for sale or license to end users.

(2) “End user” means a licensee that acquires a copy of the information from a dealer by delivery on a tangible medium for the licensee’s own use and not for sale, license, transmission to third persons, or public display or performance for a fee.

(3) “Publisher” means a licensor, other than a dealer, that offers a license to an end user with respect to information distributed by a dealer to the end user.

(b) In a contract between a dealer and an end user, if the end user’s right to use the information or informational rights is subject to a license by the publisher and there was no opportunity to review the license before the end user became obligated to pay the dealer, the following rules apply:

(1) The contract between the end user and the dealer is conditioned on the end user’s agreement to the publisher’s license.

(2) If the end user does not agree, such as by manifesting assent, to the terms of the publisher’s license, the end user has a right to a return from the dealer. A right under this paragraph is a return for purposes of §§ 59.1-501.12, 59.1-502.8, and 59.1-502.9.

(3) The dealer is not bound by the terms, and does not receive the benefits, of an agreement between the publisher and the end user unless the dealer and end user adopt those terms as part of the agreement.

(c) If an agreement provides for distribution of copies on a tangible medium or in packaging provided by the publisher or an authorized third party, a dealer may distribute those copies and documentation only:

(1) in the form as received; and

(2) subject to the terms of any license that the publisher provides to the dealer to be furnished to end users.

(d) A dealer that enters into an agreement with an end user is a licensor with respect to the end user under this chapter.

2000, cc. 101, 996.