Licensing occurs when a licensor grants exclusive or non-exclusive rights over a patent to a licensee.  A license is also a legal contract, and it will set out the terms upon which such rights are granted, including performance obligations, if any, to which one or both parties must comply.  A license being a contract with those performance obligations, the failure to comply with those obligations may lead to the termination of the license, and the reversion of all or part of the rights back to the licensor.

A license is generally revocable.  In contrast, an assignment is irrevocable and entails the sale and transfer of ownership of a the intellectual property.  This transfer of ownership is permanent and irrevocable.

Our Dallas, Plano licensing lawyers will help you license your technologies the right way whether local, national or foreign.

ROYALTIES

Royalties can be highly lucrative to an inventor.  Inventors, at some point during the life of a patent, will want to license their technology and receive royalties.  Royalties are typically paid over the life of the patent, such as the unexpired 20 year term of a patent.  Royalties therefore have the prospect of being maximized in a license, over that term. 

If the licensee fails to pay royalties, then a  breach of the license occurs, and would entitle the licensor to terminate the license.  This is an important contractual provision in a license operating to deter a licensee from breaching the royalty obligation, since its breach may result in the loss of the licensed rights. The failure to comply with the future royalty obligations, while actionable with the recovery of damages for non payment, does not put at risk the intellectual property rights which have been secured.

Our royalty lawyers are trained to litigate and win your right to royalties.