commercial delivery terms share-alike licence

The licence couples two duties: name the original compiler, and license anything you build on the data the same way.

OpenCorporates is the worked example in this slice. Its record is tagged 'commercial delivery terms' and its licensing reads 'Open Database Licence (share-alike attribution) for open-data use; commercial licence for paid API/bulk plans'. Terms_notes add the discretionary channel: 'free at-scale access is granted case-by-case to NGOs, journalists, academia and anti-corruption groups'. So the same database supports 3 access paths - conditional free reuse, purchased commercial rights, and mission-based waivers - and the licence text is what distinguishes them. Any product consuming company-registry data at volume needs to know which path it is on before the first API call, because the share-alike condition attaches automatically to the free one.

This licence type is effectively a pricing gate with 3 paths. Choose the free tier and every derived database must remain open with attribution; choose a paid API or bulk plan and the constraint lifts for a usage-scaled fee.

Procurement teams that skip the comparison often pay twice: once in engineering rework when share-alike surfaces late, then again on an emergency commercial contract. Conversely, all 4 qualifying groups - NGOs, journalists, academia and anti-corruption organizations - can obtain free at-scale access, but only case-by-case: it is a negotiated waiver, not a default right, so applications take lead time. Understanding the licence therefore changes both budget and timeline, and it should be settled during vendor evaluation rather than after the first data load.

1. Match your use to a tier. Open-data use runs under 'share-alike attribution'; paid API/bulk plans carry the commercial licence - pick deliberately.

1. Apply early for at-scale waivers. Free at-scale access for NGOs, journalists, academia and anti-corruption groups is granted case-by-case, so build approval time into the plan.

1. Plan the derivative release path. Share-alike means any registry-derived database you build must ship under commercial delivery terms - design the publication step first.

1. Verify tags against licence text. The record is tagged 'commercial delivery terms'; confirm the full licence string, not just the tag, before contracting.

These related terms cover what the licence gates - aggregated company registries - and the tokened API access that consumes them.

• company-registry-aggregation
• per-dataset-license-variance
• tokened-rest-api