DeepSeek grants you a worldwide, free license to use, copy, modify, and distribute the model, but this license cannot be transferred to others, sublicensed, and can be revoked by DeepSeek.
This analysis describes what DeepSeek's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
The license is explicitly revocable, meaning DeepSeek retains the right to terminate a licensee's rights to use the model at any time consistent with the agreement's termination provisions. The non-sublicensable nature also limits how licensees can structure downstream access arrangements.
The agreement states the license is revocable, which means DeepSeek can terminate access to the model under the conditions specified in the agreement. Organizations building products on DeepSeek-V3 should account for this revocability in their technology dependency planning.
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"Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, DeepSeek hereby grants to you a non-exclusive, worldwide, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable, royalty-free limited license under DeepSeek's intellectual property or other rights owned or controlled by DeepSeek embodied in the Model Materials to reproduce, distribute, and create derivative works of, and make modifications to, the Model Materials.— Excerpt from DeepSeek's DeepSeek Open Source License
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: The revocable license structure is a standard feature of commercial model licenses and does not directly implicate a specific regulation, but organizations in regulated industries should assess the business continuity risk of relying on a revocable license for core AI infrastructure. GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The non-transferable and non-sublicensable restrictions limit how organizations can structure customer-facing AI service agreements that rely on DeepSeek-V3. Legal teams should assess whether their commercial arrangements constitute prohibited sublicensing. JURISDICTION FLAGS: The revocability of the license may interact with business continuity and service availability obligations in regulated sectors in the EU and US. Organizations providing AI services under regulatory obligations should assess the risk of license revocation on service continuity. CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: B2B contracts that include DeepSeek-V3 as a component should disclose the revocable nature of the underlying license and include contingency provisions in the event of revocation. Procurement teams should assess this as a vendor dependency risk. COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Legal teams should map all commercial agreements that depend on DeepSeek-V3 and assess whether any arrangement constitutes a sublicense prohibited by this clause. Business continuity plans should account for the possibility of license revocation.
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The license is explicitly revocable, meaning DeepSeek retains the right to terminate a licensee's rights to use the model at any time consistent with the agreement's termination provisions. The non-sublicensable nature also limits how licensees can structure downstream access arrangements.
The agreement states the license is revocable, which means DeepSeek can terminate access to the model under the conditions specified in the agreement. Organizations building products on DeepSeek-V3 should account for this revocability in their technology dependency planning.
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