In 2010, Kimberly-Clark ceased production of GoodNites boxers, once again allowing distributors to deplete their stock of the product.

That might mean making technical assistance grants to allow distributors to research markets, find audiences and improve their own business practices.

The F.D.A. presides over a system that allows producers and distributors largely to police themselves.

Such deals typically pivot on undisclosed side letters or confidential agreements laying out terms allowing distributors to return unsold products, for example, or default on financing.

Other, "permissive", free software licenses are usually just a few lines containing the grant of rights and a disclaimer of warranty, thus also allowing distributors to add restrictions for further recipients.

But now the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has decided to allow American distributors to import semiautomatic weapons that appear to have undergone only cosmetic changes.

The company's proprietary system allowed distributors and marine businesses, to buy and sell marine supplies through "web-based transaction systems."

The Government also agreed to allow pest-control companies and distributors to use or sell stockpiles they had in storage.

The Governor's announcement reversed his earlier opposition to a wholesale change in the state's milk laws, which critics say have allowed established distributors to maintain artificially high prices.

It also allows the makers or distributors of foods that contain these omega-3 fatty acids to advertise that the product may reduce the risk of heart disease.