This analysis describes what Shopify'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 transferable and sub-licensable, meaning Shopify can pass these rights to third parties, and it includes the right to create derivative works, which extends beyond simple hosting or display of merchant content.
Interpretive note: The excerpt contains an ellipsis between 'communicate to the public' and 'create derivative works', indicating additional licensed actions may be present in the full clause that are not captured in the provided text.
The updated terms specify which Shopify corporate entity you contract with and which courts have exclusive jurisdiction over disputes, based on your store's billing address. Previously, the terms designated contracting parties and courts by region but in separate sections; the revised structure consolidates this information in a single table and introduces Shopify Technology (USA) Inc. as a contracting party for US-based merchants. The practical effect is that merchants in different regions now have explicit clarity on their contracting counterparty and the specific court system that will handle disputes, though the geographic assignment of courts remains substantially similar to prior language.
View change record →Merchants' materials may be hosted, used, modified, distributed, publicly performed, communicated to the public, and used to create derivative works by Shopify, and those rights may be transferred or sub-licensed to others.
How other platforms handle this
User grants to Stripe...a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use that Feedback for any purpose.
The license granted to you for the App is a limited, non-transferable license to use the App on Mac product that you own or control and as permitted by the Usage Rules that are part of the terms of service in the Mac App Store.
Teladoc Health grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, revocable, non-transferable license to use the Platforms in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.
"You hereby grant Shopify a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide right and license to host, use, distribute, expose, modify, run, copy, store, publicly perform, communicate to the public...and create derivative works of your Materials.Excerpt from Shopify's Terms of Service
Get the weekly coverage letter
Companies change their terms without announcing it. We capture governance documents, compare each new version with the last, and publish what changed, with the source text behind it. One email a week on what we found and what we could not reach.
The license is transferable and sub-licensable, meaning Shopify can pass these rights to third parties, and it includes the right to create derivative works, which extends beyond simple hosting or display of merchant content.
Merchants' materials may be hosted, used, modified, distributed, publicly performed, communicated to the public, and used to create derivative works by Shopify, and those rights may be transferred or sub-licensed to others.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 249 platforms. See the full comparison.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Shopify.