IP Licensing
Patents provide thefoundation for maintaining the long term success of the business. They give investors a feeling of security. In some instances patents can even be directly capitalized.
PROBLEM: Developing IP from scratch is time consuming and expensive, it often takes several wrong starts before the
successful method is determined. Then additional time is needed while the patent is filed. The time lag from idea to working prototype to patent takes many years.
SOLUTION: Therefore, licensing from a R&D
entity that has been working on the idea and has valuable IP today that
can be obtained to jump start the development.
SIGNIFICANCE: In addition, a license provides the firm instant credibility and
conveys a market and IP savviness that will set it apart. Research from
the University of Maryland has shown that licensed technologies,
particularly from Universities, creates firms which survive much longer
than average start-ups. Further, these organizations have world class
facilities and experts with which the firm can continually partner to
accelerate future development.
HOW TO GET STARTED: There are
on-line services that provide various slices of what types of IP are available for licensing and from whom. One such
source is yet2.com. This service has a listing of corporate and some
university patents, however these are placed by paying a fee, so it is
not comprehensive. BirchBob.com is a meta-search site for university
IP. Currently they list over 17,500 patents from 1500 institutions,
however some of the most prolific (e.g. MIT) either have incomplete
listings or none at all. Similarly, the government funds certain groups
(e.g. techlinkcenter.org) to find licensees for Federally developed
research. As none of these services is really complete, a mosaic
approach with a trained IP specialist is the best course of action.
When seeking a consultant to help with this endeavor, many firms
turn to legal council. While there are many attorneys who understand
the intricacies of IP, often their practice is focused on the legal
aspects of patent, copyrights, etc; not technology acquisition. A
trained technology scout will have a firm grasp on the basic legal
aspects of IP but, more importantly, know how to find, obtain, and
exploit it. Successful technology scouts maintain an active network of
technology suppliers, are familiar with institutional licensing
(university, Federal lab, and corporate) and are technologically
literate enough to engage innovators.
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