Licensing Intellectual Property

LICENSING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

The creation of new inventions and improvement of earlier technologies are the primary driving force of our economy today. In order to expand and run more efficiently, our economy relies on the sharing and transfer of technology. By the same token, the well-being of our society is heavily affected by the growth and efficiency of our economy. Clearly, technology transfer is an essential element to a growing society.

Technology transfer will be achieved only if the creators benefits from sharing their original work and ideas with the public. The public compensates creators for their work by granting them Intellectual Property (IP) protection in the form of patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets.

These forms of IP protection provide inventors and authors with exclusive rights to the benefits of their creation. A patent permits the inventors to hold a legalized monopoly over the product that they develop and patent. The copyright and trademark provide this same benefit for authors and designers. A trade secret allows a technology to be licensed without a patent. These IP claims allow the creator to license or sell these exclusive rights for a profit.

One of the greatest incentives to patenting, copyrighting or securing a trademark is the potential to move the creation into commercial use. The route that best accomplishes this is the pursuit and negotiation of a license agreement with an interested company. The license agreement is written permission for a company to produce or use the creation. In exchange, the licensee pays a royalty for the privilege of using the IP.



	LICENSING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY The creation of new inventions and improvement of earlier technologies are the primary driving force of our economy today. In order to expand and run more efficiently, our economy relies on the sharing and transfer of technology. By the same token, the well-being of our society is heavily affected by the growth and efficiency of our economy. Clearly, technology transfer is an essential element to a growing society. Technology transfer will be achieved only if the creators benefits from sharing their original work and ideas with the public. The public compensates creators for their work by granting them Intellectual Property (IP) protection in the form of patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. These forms of IP protection provide inventors and authors with exclusive rights to the benefits of their creation. A patent permits the inventors to hold a legalized monopoly over the product that they develop and patent. The copyright and trademark provide this same benefit for authors and designers. A trade secret allows a technology to be licensed without a patent. These IP claims allow the creator to license or sell these exclusive rights for a profit. One of the greatest incentives to patenting, copyrighting or securing a trademark is the potential to move the creation into commercial use. The route that best accomplishes this is the pursuit and negotiation of a license agreement with an interested company. The license agreement is written permission for a company to produce or use the creation. In exchange, the licensee pays a royalty for the privilege of using the IP.