Licensing and Commercialisation of IP Rights

IP rights are finally being recognised more and more as a valuable asset by businesses. Not only can they give a competitive edge to an owner but can also be exploited in a variety of ways – some examples are provided below.

Step One

The first step in any commercialisation process is to identify the full scope and nature of all IP held or used by the company. These may include:

• registered or registrable rights such as patents, trade marks, registered designs
• unregistered rights such as copyright and trade secrets

Step Two

Once the first step has been undertaken you’ll be able to do the next steps, namely:

1. identify what IP is being commercialised so that each party can appropriately assign a value to the IP;
2. document clearly what Intellectual Property is being covered;
3. assess what else is out there in the market place (ie who are your competitors and how do they differ from you, your product/service, if at all).

Some factors to consider before licensing:

1. what’s the goal of the owner?
2. what’s the ongoing requirement of the owner to use its IP?
3. how much involvement does the owner wish to have?
4. what’s the nature and market of the technology?
5. at what stage of the development is the technology at?
6. what is the financial position of the owner?
7. other factors, such as speed of entry into the market place, potential for growth should also be considered.

There are many factors to consider when opting to licence your product, so plan well and you could reap the benefits of a successfully planned licensing model. A wrong model could end up losing you millions on licensing revenue.