licence

Licensing is a possibility to allow a third-person the use of a property right completely or partially. A property right can be alienated or serve as a loan security.

The value of an alienated patent results from the economic potential of a possible exploitation which is determined on the one hand by the selling conditions of a certain product or proceeding and on the other hand by the enforceable scope of protection defined by its patent specification. Similarly, said factors determine the amount of an achieving licence fee.

Otherwise, the attention to foreign patents often offers underestimated chances to the own business: A licence comes into consideration when own developments were noneconomic or there were overcapacities of products, for example. In case of an appropriate form of the licence contracts, the licencee is not also exempt from the interdicted force of the foreign patent but only profits by the patent's outlet. In practice, there are often Kreuzlizenzierungen.