Perpetual license
By Gareth HoyleLast updated How we research
A perpetual license grants rights to use a dataset with no end date, so the buyer keeps those rights after any payment period finishes.
A perpetual license is a license with no expiry date: the buyer keeps the right to use the licensed data, and anything trained on it, indefinitely. It can be exclusive or non-exclusive, and it can still end for breach if the contract says so.
Why do AI buyers ask for perpetual rights?
AI buyers ask for perpetual rights because a trained model cannot practically give data back. Daniel Goldberg of the US law firm Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz made this point in October 2026: once data has been used to train a model, it cannot practically be pulled back out.
Polyshares is one buyer that licenses on these terms. Its four published deals, from $110,000 to $450,000, were all perpetual and exclusive. Troveo, by contrast, offers time-limited licenses paid through revenue share.
What can a seller negotiate instead of perpetual rights?
A seller can negotiate a fixed term for the raw data, with deletion at the end, while the buyer keeps the models it has already trained. Price perpetual rights higher than term rights. AI data licensing explained and the agreement checklist set out the clauses.