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Contract trap · Terms of service

Overbroad content license

You grant a worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable licence — often perpetual and irrevocable, surviving deletion — to use, modify, create derivative works, publicly display and commercialise your content, sometimes next to ads and with moral rights waived.

Severity
Serious
How often it turns up
Common
Holds up?
Depends where you are
Clause phrases
20

What it looks like in a contract

Redline matches these phrases against your document verbatim. Drafters rarely invent new wording — they copy it, which is why the same sentences turn up across unrelated contracts.

In English-language contracts

  • perpetual, irrevocable
  • worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable license
  • to use, copy, modify, distribute, publicly perform and display, create derivative works
  • in any media now known or hereafter developed
  • without compensation or attribution to you
  • you waive any moral rights
  • this license survives termination
  • in connection with advertising or promotion
  • even after you delete or terminate your account

In Russian-language contracts

  • Пользователь предоставляет неисключительную безвозмездную лицензию
  • простую (неисключительную) лицензию
  • глобальную, безвозмездную, бессрочную, неисключительную лицензию
  • на территории всех стран мира
  • с правом сублицензирования
  • передавать эти права посредством сублицензии
  • перерабатывать, создавать производные произведения
  • не предполагает лицензионных отчислений
  • в том числе в рекламных целях
  • сохраняет силу после удаления Контента
  • отказывается от личных неимущественных прав

Check your own contract

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Why it bites

Photos, writing, code and business files can be reused, monetised or licensed onward and kept after you delete; 'irrevocable' means no claw-back; freelancers can breach client NDAs simply by uploading; the same licence quietly enables AI training.

Is it enforceable where you are

The same clause can be routine in one country and void in another. What follows is what the law says where you are — not advice on your particular contract.

In the EU, platform terms are covered by Directive 93/13, the Digital Content Directive 2019/770 and DSA Art 14; in the US, ROSCA and FTC Act §5 apply to consumer sign-ups, and browsewrap acceptance turns on notice.

United States

Enforceable as a copyright licence; only deceptive framing draws FTC scrutiny; reversals (Instagram 2012, WeTransfer 2025) came from backlash, not law.

  • Cited
  • FTC

European Union

Assessable under 93/13 Art 3 and transparency; moral rights inalienable in most Member States (DE, FR); GDPR limits use of personal data in content; 2018-19 CPC action made Facebook clarify its terms.

  • Cited
  • GDPR

United Kingdom

CRA 2015 s.62 fairness, s.68 transparency; CMA37 flags one-sided IP terms; moral rights waivable only in clear writing (CDPA s.87).

  • Cited
  • CDPA s.87
  • CMA37
  • CRA 2015 s.62

Russia

ст. 1235-1236, 1286 ГК — лицензия должна быть определённой по объёму; ст. 1265, 1266 ГК — отказ от права авторства/неприкосновенности ничтожен; ст. 152.1 ГК — согласие на использование изображения; ст. 16 ЗоЗПП.

  • Cited
  • ст. 1235-1236
  • ст. 1265
  • ст. 152.1 ГК
  • ст. 16 ЗоЗПП

Where this has actually happened

Regulator actions, court rulings and the contracts they were fought over.

  • Instagram Terms update, Dec 2012 — right to display users' photos in ads; reverted after backlash
  • WeTransfer ToS, 1 July 2025 — 'perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable licence' incl. machine learning; wording removed 15 July 2025
  • Apple Media Services Terms (RU): «глобальную, безвозмездную, бессрочную, неисключительную лицензию»

What to do

In order, from the thing that takes a minute to the thing that takes a letter.

  1. Look for limiting language ('solely to operate the Service', 'ends when you delete')
  2. Keep NDA/client/unreleased work off services with perpetual or ad-use licences
  3. Use zero-knowledge storage for sensitive files
  4. Delete content and close the account so the licence lapses
  5. SMB: negotiate a narrow licence plus DPA
  6. RU: отказ от личных неимущественных прав ничтожен (ст. 1265, 1266 ГК).

Check your own document

Traps that travel with it

Drafters who use one of these usually use several.

79 traps · 1789 verbatim clause phrases