Intellectual Property Licensing and Development

Creation, refinement, or full exploitation of IP for profit, educational, or other benefit often requires the formation of multi-party legal relationships.  Invention is often a collaborative process, sometimes entailing the employment of consultants or other vendors.  Inventors or their employers may not have the means to convert ideas into products or revenue.  Educational institutions and other “think tanks,” in particular, often rely on the business sector to turn their IP into concrete assets.

Thus, aspiring IP owners frequently form development relationships with other parties, IP is often transferred in larger business transactions, and IP owners frequently license third parties to practice inventions in return for royalties on product sales, or other compensation.

Such multi-party relationships are contractual in nature.  Our Firm’s experience and philosophy are that multidisciplinary proficiency – in both IP subject matter and the nuances of contract law – is vital to successful IP contracting.  Our One Firm culture, integrating professionals focusing on every key element of legal knowledge, has enabled us to build and deliver prudent and dependable support for our clients’ IP development and commercialization.  And the extensive experience of our many lawyers hired from in-house and business environments delivers on our clients’ need for trusted and knowledgeable negotiating partners, not just legal technicians.

IP development and license agreements are as complex as the inventions and objectives they deal with.  Our lawyers’ extensive experience with science and technology means that our clients’ IP transactions are precisely focused and prescribe the right “deliverables.”  We’ve negotiated, drafted and helped administer IP development, assignment or licensing arrangements for a wide array of industries, operations and subject matter, including genetics and other biotechnology, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, human bone and tissue treatment, electronics, computer software and web site design for business-to-consumer, business-to-business, scientific applications and a full range of products and mechanical devices.

At the same time, these agreements are just like other contracts in the sense that documentation must render the parties’ actual agreement and the client’s rights fully enforceable.  Even in the most complex arrangements, contract language must be incapable of distortion and easily understandable to Judges and juries if litigation ensues.  It is vital to negotiate “smart” deals, but not enough.  We fault-test our contracts and other transaction documents against decades of experience with “creative” escapes and tactics.

We offer not only specific transaction services but also negotiation training, continuing education, and contract administration programs for clients who enter development, licensing and similar relationships on an ongoing basis.  Click here for a complimentary example of such training material.