Is Monogamy Right for your Patent or Trademark License?
When you offer the rights to use your patent or trademark, in exchange for fees and royalties, you are licensing those opportunities to another. That other party is called the licensee.
A monogamous license, more appropriately termed, an exclusive license, is where you have only one licensee. Typically, licensees agree to paying higher fees and royalties for the benefit of being the only ones who are allowed to benefit from the intellectual property. NBC was hugely successful last month, because they were the exclusive network to provide Olympic coverage.
There are times, however, where it benefits the patent or trademark owner to enter into a licensing agreement with as many licensees as possible. This is a non-exclusive license. Although a licensee will probably pay less in fees and royalties, the patent or trademark owner benefits from collecting this revenue from multiple licensees. Franchises are an excellent example of non-exclusive licenses to numerous franchisees for the use of trademarks, patents, and other proprietary assets.
Labels: franchise, franchising, licensing, patents, royalty, trademark
