How does marketplace licensing work?

Thank you.

If I purchase an asset via the marketplace and use it for a game. How would I later prove that I own a license, if someone questions it?

Now, let’s turn this around, how does the author of an asset know which games that have a valid license and which ones that do not? If this cannot be distinguished, then what’s to stop someone from stealing assets and using them illegally in their game?

Do the free $0 assets in the Marketplace provide the same license as the purchased ones?

I would really appreciate explanations to these 3 questions. Thank you!

  1. I’m not aware of a situation where a marketplace purchaser has to prove the purchase, but presumably the purchaser would have at least record of the financial transaction.
  2. At a high level, the license with Epic prohibits using Marketplace assets without a license. But if an author was concerned about mis-use, Epic would be able to look into relevant records.
  3. Basically yes. There are some free Epic-produced Marketplace or Learning tab assets which can only be used with an Unreal Engine product, and there are some plug-ins that are only licensed on a per-seat basis.