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IP LicensingWhile a patent holder is entitled to a limited monopoly, the patent may not be used to unlawfully restrain trade; therefore, licensing is an important commercial exploitation of intellectual property requiring both legal and technical expertise.
“One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.” What does one do with patents, or other intellectual property, that are no longer useful to your company? Licensing can be a very profitable pursuit, yet very few patents are actually licensed. As a rough estimate, only 2% to 3% of issued patents are licensed for a royalty. In spite of this, licensing revenues in the United States increased from an estimated $15 billion to over $100 billion during the 1990’s. So why isn't more intellectual property licensed? It could be the difficulty that prospective licensors and licensees have in initiating licensing transactions, either due to ignorance of licensing opportunities, or fear of failure and the resulting possibility of an infringement suit. In other cases, the intellectual property does not lend itself to licensing due to limited scope. |
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