Logistics and distribution
Load board terms of service: who can reuse the loads you post?
By SourceX Editorial · Reviewed by Noah Loul ·
Short answer
Load board terms of service usually give the platform a license to store, aggregate and reuse the loads you post, and some extend that license to search history, market rate products and AI-made derivative works. Your brokerage keeps its own TMS records. Before licensing load history, separate the data you created from anything the board generated or supplied.
Key takeaways
- Posting a load usually grants the board a license; it rarely transfers ownership of your own load records.
- Lane searches, load views and match activity are typically board-generated records that the board controls, not you.
- Clauses on aggregation, derivative works and survival after termination decide how long a board can keep reusing your postings.
- Rate estimates and carrier details pulled from a board belong in a separate field family and usually stay out of any license you grant.
- Shipper and carrier contracts can restrict load data more tightly than any load board term does.
What do load board terms say about the loads you post?#
Load board terms of service usually treat each posted load as content you supply and grant the platform a license to host, display, copy and analyze it. The license is commonly described as non-exclusive and worldwide, and many versions make it perpetual or irrevocable, so it keeps running after you cancel the account.
The terms rarely sit in one document. A board may have general terms of use, a subscriber agreement, a privacy policy, API or integration terms for TMS connections, and product schedules for rate tools. A schedule added later can widen what the platform does with data you already posted, so read the full set, not just the signup page.
| Clause | What it often lets the platform do | What the poster should check |
|---|---|---|
| License to posted content | Host, copy, display and analyze load postings | Whether the license is perpetual, irrevocable or sublicensable |
| Aggregated or anonymized data | Combine postings into lane, rate and capacity products | How anonymization is defined and whether your brokerage can be inferred |
| Usage and search data | Record lane searches, views, carrier lookups and match activity | Whether search history can be resold or used to build products |
| Derivative works and AI | Create analytics, models and other works based on postings | Whether machine learning or AI uses are named or implied |
| Survival and deletion | Keep and use data after the account closes | What survives termination and whether deletion can be requested |
| Integration terms | Govern loads pushed from your TMS through an API | Whether API terms add rights beyond the main agreement |
What does the broker keep when it posts a load?#
The broker keeps ownership of its own load records in most cases, because a license to the board is not an assignment. The posting is a thin copy: origin, destination, pickup window, equipment type, weight, sometimes a rate and a contact. The full load lives in your TMS with the shipper, rate confirmation, carrier, check calls, accessorials and any claim.
The harder line is between data you created and data the board created. Your lane search history, the carriers who viewed a load, the board's rate estimates and its carrier authority checks were generated on the platform. Those records usually belong to the board under its terms, even when they describe your own activity.
| Record | Where it usually lives | Who typically controls it |
|---|---|---|
| Load details and rate confirmation | Your TMS, such as McLeod PowerBroker or a similar system | The brokerage, subject to shipper contracts |
| Posted load copy | The load board | Shared: you keep your copy, the board holds a license to its copy |
| Lane searches and load views | The load board | The board, under its usage data terms |
| Market rate lookups | The load board or its rate tool | The board, under its content license |
| Carrier contact and authority details | Board profiles plus your own carrier packet | Mixed: your packet is yours, board profile data is the board's |
Why do AI and derivative work clauses matter now?#
AI and derivative work clauses matter because posted loads are a ready-made training set for pricing and matching models. A board that can build derivative works from postings can, depending on the wording, train rate prediction tools on your lanes and sell the output back to the market, including to your competitors.
Terms also change. FTC staff warned in February 2024 that a company quietly adopting more permissive data practices, such as AI training, through a retroactive terms change may be acting unfairly or deceptively. That guidance focused on consumers, and B2B subscriptions turn mostly on the contract you accepted, so the practical step is to archive each version of the terms you agreed to and note the date.
Ask each board directly whether postings feed machine learning, whether outputs are sold to third parties and whether you can opt out. Get the answer in writing; an email from a sales rep is weaker than a signed amendment, but it beats a phone call.
Can a load board's license stop you from licensing your own load history?#
A load board's license usually does not stop a brokerage from licensing its own load history, because most board licenses are non-exclusive. The risk sits in three narrower places: any clause that assigns data rather than licensing it, any exclusivity language, and any restriction on reusing content you downloaded from the board.
Downloaded content is the common trap. Brokers often store board rate estimates, carrier profile details or market snapshots inside the TMS next to their own data. When a load history file is built for licensing, those fields can carry the board's content into a package you have no right to license.
Shipper and carrier agreements often bind tighter than board terms. Shipper contracts commonly treat rates and lane volumes as confidential, and broker-carrier agreements may do the same for carrier rates. Federal trade secret protection also depends on reasonable measures to keep information secret, so how widely rates were posted can affect how they are treated later.
Checklist before licensing load history#
A load history license review starts with an inventory of every platform that touched the data, then works field by field. Run it before any sample leaves the building.
- Collect every version of each board's terms, subscriber agreement, API terms and product schedules that applied while you posted.
- Mark the clauses on license scope, aggregation, derivative works, AI, survival and deletion for each board.
- Map TMS fields to their source: created by your team, received from a shipper or carrier, or pulled from a board or rate tool.
- Exclude board-generated fields such as market rate estimates, carrier scores and search activity from the licensed scope.
- Check shipper contracts for confidentiality of rates, lanes and volumes, and broker-carrier agreements for carrier rate terms.
- Identify personal data, including owner-operator names, cell numbers and driver details, for removal or masking.
- Record who can approve the license for the brokerage and whether any lender or investor consent applies.
Illustrative: a brokerage separates its data from the board's#
Illustrative: a fictional regional brokerage moving dry van and reefer freight has run its business in one TMS for many years and posted to two load boards through API integrations. An AI developer is interested in load records that link tenders, carrier selection, check calls and exceptions to outcomes.
The general counsel pulls the terms for both boards and finds that one board's product schedule grants a perpetual license to postings for analytics and derived works. That clause does not limit the brokerage's own copies, but the review shows the TMS also stored the board's rate estimates and carrier safety scores on each load.
The brokerage drops those board-sourced fields, removes shipper names and driver contact details, and keeps its own tender, rate confirmation and exception records. The licensable package is smaller but clean, and each excluded field is logged with the reason.
How SourceX handles load data rights#
SourceX treats load board terms as one input to the Rights step of the SourceX five-step transaction: Supply, Rights, Preparation, Approval and Delivery. The fit check uses metadata only, such as TMS name, years of history and record families, so no load files are shared at the start.
When a package proceeds, the SourceX Evidence Packet records provenance, licensing rights, permitted use, the privacy record and release authorization, including which fields were excluded because a board, shipper or carrier controls them. The brokerage approves every step, and the data is licensed, not sold outright.
Frequently asked questions
Can I ask a load board to delete loads I have already posted?
You can ask, and some boards honor deletion requests for account data, but many terms let the platform keep aggregated or anonymized data after deletion and treat the license to past postings as surviving termination. Request deletion in writing, ask what will be kept in aggregate form, and file the response with your contract records.
Does posting through a TMS integration change which terms apply?
It can. Loads pushed through an API are usually covered by the board's main terms plus separate API or integration terms, and your TMS vendor's own agreement may add rules about data passing through its connectors. Check all three, because the broadest grant among them sets what the board can do with your postings.
Are owner-operator details in load records personal data?
Often, yes. An owner-operator's name, cell number and email identify a person even when that person acts as a business. California's CCPA exemptions for employee and business contact data ended on January 1, 2023, so covered businesses now handle that data under the full law, and other state laws may apply. Remove or mask these details and confirm scope with counsel.
Does posting rates on a load board make them non-confidential?
Not automatically, but it can weaken the argument. Federal trade secret protection requires reasonable measures to keep information secret. Posting a rate to an open market differs from sharing contract rates under a confidentiality clause, so treat posted rates and negotiated shipper rates as separate categories when deciding what can be licensed.
Should we stop posting rates to protect future licensing options?
That is a commercial decision rather than a legal requirement. Some brokers post without rates, or with ranges, to limit what feeds market rate tools. Weigh the effect on carrier response against how much rate information you want leaving the company, and review each board's current terms before deciding.
Sources
- On February 13, 2024, FTC staff warned that a company adopting more permissive data practices, such as AI training, and disclosing them only through a surreptitious, retroactive terms change may be engaging in unfair or deceptive practices. Source
- Under 18 U.S.C. 1839(3), information qualifies as a trade secret only if the owner has taken reasonable measures to keep it secret and it derives independent economic value from not being generally known. Source
- The CCPA employee and business-to-business personal information exemptions expired on January 1, 2023. Source
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