许可协议licensingagreementwww.ip4inno.eu.pptVIP

* As we have seen, license payments are made in the form of lump sums and royalties. Lump sums are amounts of money paid by the licensee when events specifically identified in the agreement occur. A common lump sum is the one payable at the signature of the licensing agreement. Imagine a university that licenses a technology still at an early stage of development to a company. The company may wish to acquire an exclusive right to develop the technology further and commercialise it. The university, on the other hand, wants to make sure that at least the costs of patenting the invention are reimbursed by the licensing agreement, plus obtain some royalties from future commercialisation. In such case, the university may agree to grant an exclusive license but request the company to pay a lump sum at the signature of the agreement, covering the costs that the university has incurred in patenting the technology. * Licensing agreements can also establish lump sums payable by the licensee on the occurrence of other events. In our previous example, the company may not be so convinced that the patented technology can lead to a successful industrial application. Therefore, it may not be willing to pay to the university a big lump sum on signature of the agreement and take that risk. Instead, it may propose paying a smaller lump sum on signature (so as to acquire the exclusive rights) and instead pay a larger lump sum as soon as the technology is proven capable of successful industrial application. Another typical example of lump sums are licensing agreements which combine the licensing of a patent and related secret know-how. Upon signature of the agreement, the licensor may not immediately provide the secret know-how, but instead do this at a later stage and upon payment of a lump sum. This will enable the licensee to initiate its exploitation efforts and only request the secret know-how when necessary, paying the lump sum with the occurrence of such event. We can a