The Native Instruments EULA is the contract between a licensee and inMusic NI GmbH of Berlin for software, related media and documentation manufactured by Native Instruments.[1] The version retrieved is headed “Latest Version 2026-07-01” and also carries the Software License Agreements of Third Parties for components included in the software.[1] The EULA is accepted by installing and registering the software; a purchaser who does not agree may, for a boxed product, return it to the dealer within 14 days of purchase, and purchases from the Native Instruments online shop are handled through customer support with a full refund of the price.[1] The EULA does not describe a volume, site or enterprise licence.
Registration and activation
Section 2 sets the activation model. A user must download the Native Access tool, create an account and register the licensed software with the serial number provided, and a product that is not activated cannot be used beyond demo mode of up to 15 or 30 minutes (Products must be registered with a serial number in Native Access, Unactivated products run only in demo mode).[1] Registration requires an internet connection and a name and email address, which are stored with the serial number in a registration database.[1] The product page for Native Access states that it is the tool for downloading, activating and updating NI products, that it requires an online connection and login to a Native account, and that legacy software is not supported.[2]
Activation uses information about essential system components of the computer, encoded in an “Activation Request Code”, which the EULA says contains no personal data. The code is used to create an activation key that works only on the computer where the code was generated (Activation key is bound to the activation computer).[1] If the licensee wants to use a product on a different device, or makes extensive changes to a device, re-activation may be needed.[1] Where a purchase is of a third-party product, the licensee agrees that Native Instruments makes the registration data available to the third party.[1]
The Native ID matters operationally. The support article on products showing as demo in Native Access tells users to log in with the same email address used to register their products and to check Products and licenses in the account, and gives file-system steps for corrupted activation tokens.[4] For an organisation this means that products bought by several people under separate accounts cannot be pooled without a licence transfer, and that departing staff may hold registrations in personal accounts.
Scope of use and device limits
Section 3 is the core grant. Native Instruments grants a non-exclusive right without restrictions in time or place to use the products, while the licensee acquires only the right to use, not to copy, decompile or reverse engineer.[1] The licensee may install and personally use the software on three devices, for example one computer, one laptop and one workstation, provided the software is used regularly on only one device, and simultaneous use on more than one hardware device is not permitted.[1] The products may not be used on a network by multiple users unless each user possesses a licence, and when the licensee changes hardware all software on the replaced hardware must be deleted (Three devices, one in regular use, Network use needs a licence per user, Hardware change requires deleting installed software).[1]
A support article gives a different figure. It states that the EULA allows installation on two computers, or three computers for all versions of Maschine and Komplete, that installations may not be used simultaneously, and that when a computer is replaced the product must be uninstalled from the previous computer even if a crash makes this impossible, in which case activation on the new computer proceeds and the number of activations granted by the EULA is maintained.[3] The support article has no date. The EULA is dated 1 July 2026 and says three devices without a product exception, and the 360 FAQ and Subscription Terms also say three. A licence manager recording entitlements should note both statements and treat the EULA as the contract text (Support article states two computers, three for Komplete and Maschine).
Other restrictions in section 3 are practical for a managed environment. The licensee must ensure through appropriate and reasonable steps that third parties, including its own employees, cannot make unauthorised use of the product, and is liable to Native Instruments for any loss or damage in this context.[1] Renting or lending the licensed software to a third party is expressly forbidden.[1] The licensee may copy the software where necessary for the agreed use and may make a backup where necessary to secure future use, and may not modify the software except to preserve or restore agreed functions.[1] Copyright notices and serial numbers may not be removed or altered.[1]
Machine learning and data mining
The current EULA and the legal information page both state that the licensee has no right to reproduce or otherwise use the products, websites, user interfaces, software components and the audio and visual content in them for data mining under Section 44b of the German Copyright Act or for training artificial intelligence technologies (Data mining and AI training are prohibited).[1][6] This clause matters to producers and sound designers who use sample content in model training pipelines.
Sound content
Where a sound library is part of a purchased product, a Sound License Agreement applies in addition. The provided samples, instruments and presets may be used for commercial or non-commercial music and audio productions without prior permission, but using the product for the creation of a sound library, or as a sound library for any synthesizer, virtual instrument, sample library or similar product, is strictly prohibited, and individual samples, sound sets or loops may not be distributed standalone or repackaged (Sound library content may be used in productions but not repackaged, Sound License Agreement).[1] The rule separates finished music, which the licensee may release, from the raw content.
Restricted versions
The EULA defines four kinds of restricted licence. NFR (Not For Resale) products are for demonstration, testing and evaluation only and cannot be resold or transferred, and are exempt from update, upgrade and crossgrade offers (NFR products are for evaluation only).[1] EDU products may be used only by students or people working in educational institutions, which the EULA defines to include students, faculty, staff and administration of private or public schools, colleges and universities, and EDU products must not be used for commercial purposes or resold (EDU products are restricted to education and not transferable).[1] Demo versions are for demonstration, testing and evaluation and must not be used commercially or resold (Demo versions are non-commercial).[1] Bundles are covered in the resale article.
Third-party components and partners
Section 4 says some content in Native Instruments products belongs to third parties and may be protected by copyright or other intellectual property laws.[1] The EULA’s third-party list includes open-source components, for example the Aria2c download tool under the GNU GPL version 2 and the GPAC project under the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 (Third-party components carry their own licences).[1] Licences for NKS partner products are published by the partners, and Native Instruments indexes their EULAs and privacy policies on a separate page.[7]
Law, venue and warranty
The EULA is governed by German law excluding the UN Sales Convention, though consumers residing abroad may rely on mandatory law of their state, and for merchants, public bodies and public special funds the place of jurisdiction is Berlin, while Native Instruments may sue at the licensee’s place of residence or business.[1] Warranty and liability are governed by the General Terms and Conditions, and the webshop terms (July 2026) state that agreement to the EULA is a prerequisite for using the software.[1][5] The same terms exclude the statutory right of withdrawal for sealed software that was unsealed and for digital content whose performance has begun with the customer’s consent, and so a downloaded licence purchase may not be refundable on the grounds of withdrawal (Withdrawal does not apply to unsealed software and started digital content).[5]
Out of scope
This article does not cover subscriptions, which have their own terms, licence transfers, bundle pricing, hardware warranty or drivers, or the licence terms of third-party Kontakt libraries. It does not interpret how German law applies to any particular dispute.