When a person starts a business, he needs to let the legal authorities know. He should get the government’s permission if he’s legally eligible to sell certain items.
Hence, licensing is helpful to prevent unnecessary and unexpected harm from society and create a clean environment. Commercial licenses and personal licenses are also two types of licenses.
Key Takeaways
- Commercial licenses permit using a product or service for monetary gain, while personal licenses allow usage for non-commercial purposes only.
- Commercial licenses cost more than personal licenses due to the scope of their usage rights.
- Businesses and organizations require commercial licenses, while individuals can use personal licenses for private needs.
Commercial License vs Personal License
The difference between commercial license and personal license is that a commercial license is purchased by companies and organizations, and it can be utilized by employees of that respective company. On the other hand, a personal license is purchased by ordinary people for their private uses, and no organization is involved in the purchasing procedure.
A commercial license is issued for business entities and other types of organizations. A commercial driving license is also administered for people. Companies and organizations buy this license for their businesses.
A commercial license can be purchased individually for personal use. A person or an organization has to pay the required amount and submit the necessary documents to get access to the commercial license.
A personal license is purchased by individuals for their personal goals. A person becomes responsible for legally selling specific materials, for example, alcohol.
A personal license includes several responsibilities for people to follow. A personal license holder can not break the laws and regulations assigned to him. Otherwise, he becomes liable to receive appropriate punishment from the law.
Comparison Table
| Parameters Of Comparison | Commercial License | Personal License |
|---|---|---|
| Required for | Commercial licenses are always registered by corporations and companies for commercial purposes. | Personal licenses are registered by individuals or ordinary citizens for personal purposes. |
| Utilized by | A company or organization running some business is eligible for a commercial license. | A person who is intended to start a business to earn a livelihood is eligible for a personal license. |
| Copyright | Work done under a commercial license can be used by other businesses to make a profit. | Work done under a personal license can be used for personal uses. Others can’t make a profit from it. |
| Example | The most common example of a commercial license is a commercial driving license which is also further divided. | There is no specific type of personal license. They can vary from country to country. |
| Digital form | A person can use or download content posted online under a commercial license for his business. | A person can not use content posted online under a personal license for his business. |
What is Commercial License?
Commercial licenses are the opposite of non-commercial licenses. A commercial license includes everything that is meant to be promoted, marketed, and sold, for instance, books, merchandise, content, etc.
Applications and TV channels that include advertisements to earn profit need to register for commercial license.
Journals that are published on an online or offline platform and require paid subscription are liable to register for a commercial license.
When registering for the commercial license, a person is asked to submit all details about his business. To understand it better, an example can be used.
If a person sells printed mugs or handcrafted jewelry online, he can only put his logo to his products when he has successfully obtained the commercial license to do so. It is helpful to avoid copyright and plagiarism issues.
Others can use objects or content that comes in the jurisdiction of the commercial license with the intention of profit by following the terms and conditions.
If they pre-registered for a commercial license, people could not steal someone else’s work, trademark, or other materials. Because when an authority provides a commercial license, it assigns the official name of business entities requesting it.
Hence, more than a single entity can use a commercial license with the appropriate terms and conditions. It is very beneficial since it reduces the hard work and keeps the credit secure.
What is Personal License?
Personal license is provided by licensing authorities to the people individually. A personal license is purchased by spending the money of a person, not an organization.
This license is entirely dedicated to personal use, and only the license holder can utilize it. Personal license is associated with the sale of alcohol.
The initial term in-person license for selling alcohol is that the license holder is responsible for an illegal sale. Sellers should not sell the alcohol to children and underage girls and boys.
A personal license also determines the operating and opening time. The license holder must have complete knowledge of different types of alcohol and their effects on the human body.
It is also a very advantageous method to prevent copyright and stealing of online posted material. All the content that belongs to a personal license also belongs to the person who is the actual owner, and without his permission, no one can use the material for commercial purposes and to make a profit from it.
Others can only use it for personal uses; otherwise, they become liable to pay the penalty. For example, a person can not repost the YouTube video of other channels to make money from it.
A personal license comes with terms and conditions and should be renewed from time to time.
Main Differences Between Commercial License and Personal License
- BY-NC, BY-SA, BY, BY-NC-SA are some of the commercial licenses for online platforms. On the other hand, a personal license comes with the platform.
- In offline mode, a commercial driving license is the most common example of a commercial license utilized by people. On the other hand, types of personal licenses are not very confident in offline mode.
- Commercial licenses were introduced to the world in the year 1903. On the other hand, personal licenses were introduced quite later in the year 2005.
- Commercial licenses are purchased by organizations and corporations. On the other hand, as the name suggests, personal licenses are purchased individually for personal uses.
- Commercial licenses allow other people to use the services to make a profit. On the other hand, a person’s license doesn’t allow others to use services to make a profit without the consent of the license holder.
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/faf.12393
- https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paul-Flecknell/publication/14917854_Anesthesia_of_animals_for_biomedical_research/links/58ac3087aca27206d9bf9506/Anesthesia-of-animals-for-biomedical-research.pdf
Last Updated : 21 July, 2023
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Emma Smith holds an MA degree in English from Irvine Valley College. She has been a Journalist since 2002, writing articles on the English language, Sports, and Law. Read more about me on her bio page.
