Licensing IP Rights - Common Problems & Solutions

Introduction

The licensing of IP rights is of huge significance to the UK economy producing revenues of billions of pounds a year.

However often the parties to IP licence agreements come to regret what they have signed up to and IP licensing disputes are common.

This course, aimed at those with a basic familiarity with IP rights, will look at the anatomy of the IP licence and will explore common problems that arise and outline solutions to them.

The course is based around a fictional case study and will provide attendees with an opportunity to do some drafting.

What You Will Learn

This course will cover the following:

• What an IP licence is and why do businesses license their IP?
• What the risks of IP licensing are - known and unknown risks and how to manage them
• How do courts interpret licence agreements?
• The importance of doing due diligence on the other party
• Choosing the right parties to the agreement
• The grant clause - a look at the issues to cover off in this key provision
• What obligations and restrictions to impose on the licensor and licensee
• Managing royalties provisions - what can go wrong and how to manage the risks
• Tax issues - VAT, withholding taxes and patent box relief issues on IP licensing
• Termination - a review of the standard grounds and issues that arise on termination
• Insolvency - the risks when one party becomes insolvent and how to manage them
• Key boiler plate issues - IP infringement, liability, variation, jurisdiction and dispute resolution, deed v agreement, execution
• Registration of licences - why bother and how to do it