license

The database object within IT Asset Management that stores the rights or entitlements conveyed by a particular license agreement. This identifies the software applications governed by the license agreement, the amounts of entitlements (such as how many copies may be installed), the product use rights that govern the use of the software, and so on.

Note: Sometimes publishers use the term "a license" to refer to each entitlement under a particular agreement. For example, "You have purchased 50 licenses for MyApp" means that, as a result of one or more license agreements, you have been assigned the right to use 50 copies of the software. While that assignment remains in force (and many are perpetual), you are entitled to use those copies.

Each “license” in the system records a single, consistent set of rights and entitlements. In the physical world, a single license agreement may contain more than one set of rights, so that condition A applies if you purchased the full packaged product, but condition B applies if your purchased under a corporate purchasing agreement with a current maintenance agreement (such as Software Assurance). If you had software purchased both ways, you would need two license records to represent the different entitlements attached to the different copies of the software.