Secure your idea for 12 months and convert to international patent under PCT within 12 months
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) provides filing mechanism for global protection of innovative products and services.
Patent licensing is common strategy to assign invention rights to third parties to bring innovations to market. Technology companies working on innovative products and solutions opt for patent asset monetization as the most preferred approach to boost revenues. Patent licensing allows third parties to make and sell patented products on behalf of the patent owners.
Patent attorneys work with clients to identify potential buyers for patent owners, who can either opt for partial rights as patent licensing or transfer of complete ownership of patent as patent assignment. Patent licensing search is helpful to review the potential patents that may infringe upon the rights of the patent owners. Such patents cover granted patents as well as pending patent applications. With a view to determine potential patent infringement, patent attorneys prepare patent claim charts that are also known as evidence of use charts.
The purpose of patent licensing search is either to pursue in-licensing opportunity or to opt for out-licensing. In case of in-licensing of patents, the patent licensing search covers potential patents that are relevant for a company to buy. The qualifying criteria for in-licensing includes alignment of search results with the business goals of the client. Based on specific keywords related to the business model, the patent licensing search covers search results with strong potential based on strength of independent patent claims, patent age, patent validity, patent citations (forward citation), inventor count, and the like. While preparing this type of patent search report, the search results are also evaluated at the end by way of patent licensing analysis.
In case of patent out-licensing, the aim is to determine potential buyers for patented innovations. The patent search report in this situation covers review of patents owned by companies having similar business models that are active in market. Such companies possess potential to bring innovations to market quickly and efficiently. Therefore, this kind of patent licensing search report shall also require business and financial analysis of potential patent licensees.
External patent counsels regularly work with team of scientists to conduct strategic patent due diligence with respect to a line of products manufactured by the company. After analysing the patent data, the potential collaborators are identified to finalise in-licensing and out-licensing deals. This type of collaboration can increase the revenues of the company and opportunities can be identified for expanding the IP position in the global market.
Patent Licensing Agreement is a revocable agreement between the patent owner and a licensee to transfer interest in a patent to a licensee, who can profit by and uphold intellectual property rights. Therefore, it plays an important role in how to patent an idea. A patent proprietor can permit or can allocate an interest in a patent. The licensor surrenders the right to intellectual property, which is generally for a specific period and in this time, the licensee can generate or trade the invention or design. The licensee can likewise benefit from the intellectual property during the permit or license time frame.
Generally, there are two kinds of patent licenses. Exclusive Patent Licenses assign all proprietorship to a licensee. Although, the licensor still claims the title and every single patent owner must agree to an exclusive license. On the contrary, Non-Exclusive Licenses permit the licensee to create the invention or design. In such cases, the licensee doesn’t achieve exclusive rights and only one patent proprietor needs to consent to a non-exclusive license.
Patent licensing makes sure that one makes a profit from the rights to their innovation. They can further gather sovereignties from deals or sales. Manufacturing a product or design can be expensive and involve extreme risk, which Patent licensing allows transferring to another party. All innovators cannot manufacture, deliver, or a design on a wide-reaching scale. Patent Licensing acquaints the invention with a market with better prospects to prompt distribution around the globe. This strategy is well known for businessmen and new businesses. It is not necessary to transfer the ownership of the rights to your licensed innovation endlessly or until the end of time. The time frame can be assigned and when the period terminates, one can reclaim exclusive rights. Where infringement occurs, the inventor can sue the infringer. This can be costly, thus rather than suing, one can consider patent licensing where a contender has the right to the inventor’s invention and the option to benefit simultaneously.
