Legal Definitions - tear-me-open license

A tear-me-open license is another term for a shrink-wrap license. It refers to a legal agreement, typically for software or other digital products, where the terms and conditions are enclosed within the product's packaging. The buyer is usually informed, often by a notice on the exterior of the package or on a seal, that opening the package, breaking a seal, or installing/using the product signifies their acceptance of these terms.

The key characteristic is that the full terms of the license are not readily available for review *before* the purchase or before the physical packaging is opened. By proceeding with the act of opening the package, the consumer is deemed to have agreed to the license terms, even if they haven't read them yet.

• Example 1: Boxed Software Purchase
  Imagine a customer buying a physical copy of a new operating system from a retail store. The software box is sealed with a plastic wrap, and a sticker on the outside reads, "By opening this package, you agree to the End User License Agreement (EULA) contained inside." Once the customer tears open the plastic and opens the box to install the software, they are considered to have accepted the terms of the EULA, which might be printed in a booklet or on the CD sleeve within the box.
  This illustrates a tear-me-open license because the act of physically opening the sealed package is presented as the moment of agreement to the license terms, which are only fully accessible after that action.
• Example 2: Video Game Disc
  A consumer purchases a new video game on a disc. The game case is sealed with a plastic strip or a security sticker. On the back of the case or on the seal itself, there's a small print stating, "Your use of this product is subject to the software license agreement found within the game manual. Opening this package constitutes acceptance of these terms."
  Here, the tear-me-open license is demonstrated by the requirement that the physical seal on the game case must be broken to access the game disc and its manual, and this act of opening is explicitly linked to accepting the enclosed license terms.
• Example 3: Hardware with Bundled Software
  A user buys a new external solid-state drive (SSD) that comes with proprietary backup and encryption software pre-loaded or available via a download code inside the box. The packaging for the SSD might have a notice indicating that by opening the box and installing the bundled software, the user agrees to the software's license terms, which are detailed in a pamphlet inside or presented during the software installation process.
  This example shows a tear-me-open license because the acceptance of the software's terms is tied to the physical act of opening the hardware's packaging, which then grants access to the software or its installation instructions.