Short version: Forever. A one-year deal with a perpetual license pays you for one year and lets the brand use what it made that year for the rest of time. The narrower version is a license term of one to three years.
Forever. "In perpetuity" is a legal phrase for a right with no end date. In an endorsement or NIL contract it almost always sits in the usage-rights clause, the part that says how long and where a brand may use your name, image and likeness. A deal with a one-year term and a perpetual license pays you for one year and lets the brand use the photos, video and quotes from that year for the rest of time.
Where it hides
The University of Oregon's NIL and Sports Law Clinic lays out the parts of a deal that decide this: the term (how long the agreement lasts), the scope of the license (how, where and when the company may use the athlete's name, image and likeness), the assignment clause (whether the rights can be handed to someone else), and the notice and termination provisions (how the deal ends). "In perpetuity" is a scope-of-license word. It can sit next to a short term and look harmless.
Law firm guides written for student-athletes point at the same clause. Weintraub Tobin's note on the NCAA's NIL policy warns that many companies include language granting a license "in perpetuity," so the company pays only for the express term of the contract but may use the athlete's likeness forever. McLane Middleton's primer describes the same risk: the company keeps using the athlete's likeness after the term expires, potentially without further compensation.
What it looks like in practice
A commercial shot during the deal can run after the deal ends. A photo from a campaign can appear on packaging years later. The Oregon clinic raises the case of an athlete's image from college being used decades later to advertise a product they no longer endorse, and the athlete having agreed to it in the original contract.
The license usually covers content the brand made during the term: photographs, video, social posts, quotes. It does not usually cover new content, because new content needs the athlete to show up. The question is what happens to the old content, and "in perpetuity" answers it.
A one-year deal with a perpetual license is a one-year payment for a permanent right.
What the narrower versions say
The same guides describe how the clause is commonly limited. Lawyers for athletes push for a defined license term, often one to three years, and strike the words "perpetual" and "irrevocable." The Oregon clinic publishes a sample clause that keeps perpetual use only for the company's internal purposes, such as historical, educational or commemorative uses, provided the use does not suggest or imply a continuing endorsement.
Two separate rights are involved, and the guides note the difference. Your right to your name, image and likeness is one. The copyright in a photo or video is another, and it belongs to whoever made the content unless the contract says otherwise. A brand that owns the copyright and holds a perpetual NIL license can use the material indefinitely. A brand that owns the copyright but holds a three-year license cannot run it commercially after year three.
Why the word is worth finding
The term of the deal is in the first paragraph. The license is often several pages in, in a sentence that also lists media, territories and formats. You sign for the term and live with the license. State NIL laws and school rules vary on what a contract may say, so the current rule for your state and school is the one that counts.
What Leave does with this
Upload your contract and Leave reads it back in plain words, with the usage rights labelled, including how long they run and whether "in perpetuity" is in there. Leave takes 0 percent of any deal. You decide what to sign.
Questions people ask
Does "in perpetuity" mean the brand owns my name and image?
No. It is a license, not ownership. The athlete still owns their name, image and likeness. The clause gives the brand permission to keep using the material it made during the deal, for as long as it likes.
Does the brand keep paying after the deal ends?
Usually not. A typical perpetual license says the brand is paid up for the term of the deal and may use the content afterward with no further payment, unless the contract says otherwise.
Is there a narrower version?
Yes. The University of Oregon's NIL clinic publishes a sample clause that allows perpetual use only for internal, historical, educational or commemorative purposes, provided the use does not suggest a continuing endorsement.
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