sublicense

1 of 2

noun

sub·​li·​cense ˌsəb-ˈlī-sᵊn(t)s 

variants US sublicense or chiefly British sublicence

plural sublicenses

: a subordinate license granted to another by one already having a license

Universities often work to breed products especially suited to their state's agricultural needs. When they develop appropriate products, they'll seek plant variety protection (similar to a patent) through the federal government, then maintain the purity of that product by selling it to a company with a sublicense for the seed. In turn, they receive royalties …

—Carla Joinson

sublicense

2 of 2

verb

variants US sublicense or British sublicence

sublicensed; sublicensing

transitive verb

: to grant a sublicense for (something)

The company plans to incorporate the system into a demonstration facility for recycling vehicles and will sublicense the … technology to automobile shredders worldwide.

—John DeGaspari

Examples of sublicense in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

In an unusual move, Fox Deportes and Telemundo are sharing rights via a sublicense deal. —Dade Hayes, Deadline, 9 Feb. 2025

The registered trademark Linux is used pursuant to a sublicense from the Linux Foundation, the exclusive licensee of Linus Torvalds, owner of the mark on a worldwide basis. —IEEE Spectrum, 19 Dec. 2024

The multiyear deal, which runs through the 2026-27 season, is through a sublicense agreement with ESPN. —Sportico Staff, Sportico.com, 27 Sep. 2024

Earlier this year, a sublicense was issued for a Fred Segal Home furniture and accessories showroom at the HD Buttercup Design Center in Culver City, Calif. —Deborah Belgum, WWD, 31 July 2024

Royalty payments of approximately $2.5 million were received from our sublicense with Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd in the year ended December 31, 2023, representing an approximate 48.8% increase over the same period in 2022. —Miami Herald, 22 Mar. 2024

More than fifty companies around the world have already contacted the Patent Pool to obtain a sublicense to produce the drug, and the Gates Foundation has pledged a hundred and twenty million dollars to support generic-drug makers. —Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2021

Verb

Looking at the tournament to date, there were four opening round games, two each airing on ESPN and TNT Sports (which was sublicensed from ESPN). —Brad Adgate, Forbes, 15 Jan. 2025

Sometime in the second quarter of the SMU-Penn State game, which kicks off at noon ET on TNT (sublicensed from Disney for a hefty sum), NBC will counter with a matchup between the 9-5 Texans and the 13-1 Chiefs. —Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 20 Dec. 2024

The most logical pairing is Amazon and Rogers, which already sublicensed its Monday night games to Amazon Prime Video in a deal struck earlier this year. —Alex Sherman, CNBC, 21 Nov. 2024

YouTube creators who want to license their data will enter into a contract with Calliope, which will then sublicense their work out for training generative AI foundational models. —Kate Knibbs, WIRED, 30 Sep. 2024

Its terms of service explicitly state that the company also perpetually and irrevocably owns the copyright licenses to reproduce, sublicense and distribute any works created through its software and has the right to distribute any content that is put into the system. —Rashi Shrivastava, Forbes, 28 Sep. 2024

However, the company has been adding other sports rights in recent months, including the French Open, Big East basketball and a deal with ESPN to sublicense the College Football Playoff. —Jason Clinkscales, Sportico.com, 6 Aug. 2024

For the full year 2023, consolidated revenue grew 5 percent, or 9 percent when adjusting for World Cup sublicensing revenue and U.S. midterm political spend in 2022, to $4.9 billion. —Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Feb. 2024

Later that month, Kee sublicensed his picture with NFL Photos, an agency that distributed shots taken by freelance photographers at NFL events, the lawsuit stated. —Kyle Melnick, Washington Post, 17 Jan. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1814, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1814, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for sublicense

• licence
• license

Legal Definition

sublicense

noun

sub·​li·​cense

ˌsəb-ˈlīs-ᵊns

: a license granted by a licensee that grants some or all of the rights (as to a patent) acquired under the original license

sublicense verb