English vs American in contracts and agreements

[Ralu]

Hello,*

I have just reviewed a contract where I read the word "Licencee" (as one of the parties) and then in the provisions the word was written as "Licensee". Could this create an issue if taken to court?

[R0b]

If it is just a spelling variation and the parties understand who the Licencee is under the contract, then it's unlikely to be an issue. It would be good practice to make sure that only one spelling of that word is used throughout the contract, particularly as you've referred to "Licencee" meaning it has probably been defined somewhere.

[Ralu]

If it is just a spelling variation and the parties understand who the Licencee is under the contract, then it's unlikely to be an issue. It would be good practice to make sure that only one spelling of that word is used throughout the contract, particularly as you've referred to "Licencee" meaning it has probably been defined somewhere.

Thank you for your feedback, I made sure the word is spelled as in written in the section of the parties where Licencee is one of them. There is no other definition of "Licencee" anywhere but the "Licencee" appeared to be written differently (i.e. Licesee) throughout the contract but not always, in some parts it was Licencee and some Licensee, that is why I wondered whether there could be an issue in court if that scenario would present itself.*

[R0b]

I could only think that there might be ambiguity if there are multiple licensees. Having said that, I have never seen the word 'Licencee' used in an English contract and I'm not even so sure it's an actual word we recognise.

In England, we use the word 'Licence' which is what we would identify as a document e.g. driving licence or licence agreement. When you refer to the holder of that licence, we use 'licensee' and in the context of software, the owner is the 'licensor'. These two terms are also used in the US so the only difference of spelling between the two countries is 'Licence/License'.

If you want the contract to read correctly, you should use licensee and licensor, and the use of Licence is neither here nor there really.