Often an inventor cannot or does not want to exploit his developments or his know-how alone. Then there is the possibility of licensing.
Conversely, an entrepreneur may be interested in acquiring a licence for a product or manufacturing process. This enables him, for example, to enter a market abroad, by acquiring an exclusive right for a specific country or territory.
However, licenses can also play a role in sales, agent, production or supply contracts, which seem simple at first glance. The same applies to cooperation agreements and joint ventures.
Industrial property rights and know-how are often very valuable. Nevertheless, these rights are usually ignored in contracts. At the latest when a contract is terminated or a distribution partner is changed, there is sometimes a nasty awakening when domains are no longer issued or own trademarks are secretly registered. It is therefore worthwhile to have existing or long-standing contracts examined with regard to industrial property rights.
In addition, when drafting or reviewing license agreements, antitrust law must always be observed. For example, it is not permissible to set price targets for licensees in license agreements.
