Technology transfer
HØIBERG advises our clients on how to optimise the utilisation of their intellectual property through technology transfer. Intellectual property, such as a patented product or process, may not be an integral part of our clients’ overall business strategy. For example, it may be in a non-core area of specialisation, or there may be insufficient resources to fully develop the innovation.
In such instances, our clients may wish to transfer to a third party the right and necessary know-how to exercise the invention. This technology transfer usually takes the form of an assignment of rights or licensing agreement based on exclusive, non-exclusive, or sole licences. Such licences generally confer rights in relation to the manufacture, marketing, and use of the patented invention.
- When an exclusive licence is granted, the licensee alone has the right to use the intellectual property specified in the licence for commercial purposes. This complete divestment of rights should only be undertaken after careful thought.
- A non-exclusive licence can be given to several recipients who may be competing in the same marketplace. In practice, there will be an optimum number of licences in any given market that will attract the highest possible royalty income.
- A sole licence allows the IP holder to retain the rights in the intellectual property, while granting the recipient the same rights. For example, a company may have insufficient capacity to meet the demand for a patented product, and may use such a licence to overcome this problem.
Licences are normally granted within a defined geographical area and for a specific field of use or application, depending on the business activities of the licensee and the broader objectives of the agreement. The different forms of licensing afford different levels of control over the subject matter, and any licence must be drafted according to the specific needs of our client. HØIBERG advise on which licence to choose, and ensure that the terms of the licence are suited to our clients.
In addition, our clients may wish to licence protected designs and trademarks.