Licensing Contract to Exploit Patent

This study discusses the licensing contract to exploit patent as it is one of the most important means of technology transfer at the present age. It also helps to obtain the most important inventions and exploit them practically and legally. Furthermore, it provides the inventor with an instrument to spread his goodwill, apply the related invention practically and obtain material returns of that application. On the other hand, it provides the license applicant with the opportunity to obtain important inventions and make use of their practical applications. Due to the importance of this contract from the developmental and legal aspects, the researcher decided to study it, since it is one of the most important methods of technology transfer to developing countries. At the same time, it hasn't received adequate research to satisfy the legal and cognitive needs related to it. In this way, this study constitutes a serious attempt to investigate its entity, aspects, and impacts in order to supply a clear image for those who would desire to enter related contracts or study it. This analytical legal study consists of two chapters. Chapter One is divided into two parts, the first of which discusses the contract's entity by clarifying the idea of technology-transfer contracts in general. Once the idea of technology-transfer contract has been clarified, we investigate the definition of licensing contract using jurisprudent viewpoints and legal texts in order to get an exclusive definition of the concept under investigation. Various kinds of the contract are also discussed. Afterwards, we discuss the concept of patent in order to realize its legal concept, the objective conditions, and formality that must be satisfied according to the law, as well as its characteristics. The second part of the first chapter discusses the range of the licensing contract to use patents whose characteristics are discussed in intensive details. It has also been differentiate from other similar legal contracts such as the Patent Concession Contract, the Commercial Assignment Contract, and the Franchise Contract, by discussing each contract intensively, making comparison and contrast, and showing the points of similarities and differences between each of them and the licensing contract to use patent. At the end of this part, its legal nature is discussed through demonstrating and analyzing the jurisprudents' viewpoints. The study reached the conclusion that the licensing contract to use patent has a special complicated nature. On the one hand, it is subject to the laws and regulations of technological transfer contracts, on the other, it is subjected to the regulations of intellectual property. Chapter Two discusses the making and impacts of the licensing contract to use patent. This chapter is divided in two parts. The first part consists of two sections, the first of which discusses preparing the licensing contact to use patent, including the stage of negotiations that precedes the contracting, showing its importance, and the guarantees that usually encompass that stage in order to keep it confidential. Then, we look into the legal impact of the preliminary agreements concluded by the related parties at that stage, since most of them are merely promises of making contracts. The second section discusses the final conclusion of the licensing contract to use patent, including the research into the ways of wording the various terms and conditions of the contract in such a way that maintains the rights of the contracting parties and making suggestions of ideal, typical, and adequate forms. Following this, we discuss the limiting conditions that are usually included in the licensing contact. Some of them used to limit the outlooks of the licensee to develop the invention. These limitations have been analyzed and discussed extensively in order to see their entities and legality, since these limitations are often considered among the most important difficulties of the contract. The second part discusses the licensing contract to use patent and the termination of the contracting connection. This is done in two sections. In the first section, we examine the obligations of the contract's parties (the licensor and the licensee). The study shows the parties' obligations through recourse to legal texts that treated such obligations and the jurisprudent viewpoints surrounding them in order to reach a clear image regarding such obligations and their importance to both parties. Finally, the second section looks into the causes that lead to the termination of the licensing contract to use patent whether it’s by the end of its period or by termination or annulment, as well as the legal impacts of the termination.