IP Licensing & Transfer
A Crown Jewel for Your Business Strategy
IP Licensing
Successful companies in the 21st century, such as Apple, acquire global market power, as well as global market share by licensing and/or purchasing the protected Intellectual Property of emerging and developing businesses. It is a key to their and your business’ financial success. An Intellectual Property license is an agreement between an owner (licensor) and an authorized user (licensee) in exchange for an agreed payment (fee or royalty). This royalty can be a single payment, a percentage of sales based on incentives, or number of other mutually beneficial arrangements. Licenses can also be exclusive or nonexclusive.
Licensing “In” – A Magnet For Financing
Your business’ ability to license protected technology and intellectual property assets of others can produce a quantum leap for your business over competitors. By licensing Intellectual Property, which has already been “proven,” you avoid years of development and millions of dollars. Research and Development (“R&D”) is an “iffy” road at best. Being able to “purchase” a competitive edge is a fast track, inexpensive alternative to R&D. It is also very attractive to result-oriented lenders and investors, taking a good deal of the risk out of financing.
Meyer & Associates, LLC can provide you with licensing strategies that minimize risk and have been developed over years of experience in the industry with large multi-national companies.
Licensing “Out” – The Road To Capitalization
Your business’ ability to license technology in the form of protected Intellectual Property can afford your business a ready revenue stream. Many times, emerging and developing companies have attained protected Intellectual Property which is tangential to their core business. This technology and business methodologies, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets or the like, if properly protected, can be licensed to others who are not competing for your business’ global market share. If these licensing arrangements are to have affect in foreign countries, your business needs protect its technology in these countries. This type of “self-financing” is relatively low cost and allows you to remain in control. Licensing “out” allows your business to expand multi-nationally through licensees in areas of the world with which you are not familiar and/or you could not afford to expand. There are no investor/bankers to condition this financing or take equity in your business.
“Joint Venture” Enterprises
A joint venture may comprise a variety of business relationships which are often used as an alternative to traditional financing. Two or more companies can agree on a cooperative pooling of resources and sharing of revenue by forming an enterprise with a common business purpose. These arrangements can involve one or more parties contributing technology or other intellectual property and one or more parties contributing financial assistance, market share, and/or business expertise. A joint venture may also be a cooperative arrangement of enterprises to develop new technology of common interest. In this regard the venture agreements will contain provisions for profit-sharing and/or licensing and/or other mechanisms for writing regulating and profiting from the developed technology.
Meyer & Associates, LLC has had years of experience in forming and helping to manage joint venture enterprises. We can help you structure your IP portfolio to take full advantage of these valuable financing tool.