clickwrap license

noun

A license which is implicitly agreed to when the user clicks on a particular user interface element, such as a button or link.

Meanings

nounclickwrap license (plural clickwrap licenses)

plural clickwrap licenses

  1. computingA license which is implicitly agreed to when the user clicks on a particular user interface element, such as a button or link.

    Like the more familiar “clickwrap” license, which we encounter every time we download a software update or buy an item on the Internet, this license employs the law of contract to limit the use of an invention by others.

    2012, Kal Raustiala, Christopher Sprigman, The Knockoff Economy: How Imitation Sparks Innovation, Oxford University Press, →ISBN
    1 more example

    The second example, the so-called “clickwrap” license, is more likely to create an enforceable contract. In this variation, the user is required to view, however fleetingly, the terms of the license and to take some affirmative action to agree to its terms, such as by clicking a button that says “Yes, I have read this license and I agree to its terms,” before accessing the licensed software.

    2004, Andrew M. St. Laurent, Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing, O'Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 150

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

clickwrap license. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clickwrap%20license

MLA

“clickwrap license.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clickwrap%20license. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “clickwrap license,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clickwrap%20license.

Source: clickwrap license on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.