From your own link:
(b) Any contract or conveyance made in the name of a corporation
which is authorized or ratified by the board, or is done within the
scope of the authority, actual or apparent, conferred by the board or
within the agency power of the officer executing it, except as the
board's authority is limited by law other than this division, binds
the corporation, and the corporation acquires rights thereunder,
whether the contract is executed or wholly or in part executory.
Also
313. Subject to the provisions of subdivision (a) of Section 208,
any note, mortgage, evidence of indebtedness, contract, share
certificate, initial transaction statement or written statement,
conveyance, or other instrument in writing, and any assignment or
endorsement thereof, executed or entered into between any corporation
and any other person, when signed by the chairman of the board, the
president or any vice president and the secretary, any assistant
secretary, the chief financial officer or any assistant treasurer of
such corporation, is not invalidated as to the corporation by any
lack of authority of the signing officers in the absence of actual
knowledge on the part of the other person that the signing officers
had no authority to execute the same.
Obviously that only applies to California, but the first sounds like you only have to verify that the person releasing to you appears to have the authority to do so; the second one specifically mentions vice presidents so it might be best to get a release from that level.
One wrinkle I'm aware of here in the UK is that you can't have a binding contract if one party receives no consideration for it. So you're on much firmer legal ground if you can arrange to pay $1 for your license.
Also 313. Subject to the provisions of subdivision (a) of Section 208, any note, mortgage, evidence of indebtedness, contract, share certificate, initial transaction statement or written statement, conveyance, or other instrument in writing, and any assignment or endorsement thereof, executed or entered into between any corporation and any other person, when signed by the chairman of the board, the president or any vice president and the secretary, any assistant secretary, the chief financial officer or any assistant treasurer of such corporation, is not invalidated as to the corporation by any lack of authority of the signing officers in the absence of actual knowledge on the part of the other person that the signing officers had no authority to execute the same.
Obviously that only applies to California, but the first sounds like you only have to verify that the person releasing to you appears to have the authority to do so; the second one specifically mentions vice presidents so it might be best to get a release from that level.
One wrinkle I'm aware of here in the UK is that you can't have a binding contract if one party receives no consideration for it. So you're on much firmer legal ground if you can arrange to pay $1 for your license.
IANAL