A software licensing Application Programming Interface (API) that allows software products to use the license management functionality of a common service. A license specifies rights in a software product. The software product calls a consume method on the API in order to consume a right. If the right exists, the service binds the right to the license in which the right is found. The software product enforces the terms of the license by granting, or denying, access to some or all features depending on whether a valid instance of the right is found. Arbitrary data can be associated with a right. The API includes a method to retrieve data from a right that has been previously bound by the consume method.