Practical perspectives on IP strategy, licensing, and patent enforcement by Kai-Erik Elers. Browse the summaries by topic and follow the links to read the original posts on LinkedIn.
Becoming a Credible Patent Owner
Credible enforcement capability can strengthen a patent owner’s licensing position without requiring frequent litigation. This post explores the connection between voluntary licensing, business-driven enforcement decisions, and building the expertise and resources needed to act when justified.
Open-Source Governance for a Licensing Business
Open-source software can accelerate development while complicating a commercial licensing offer. This post explores component inventories, license compatibility, documentation, and practical governance steps that help organizations understand the rights and obligations attached to their software.
Connecting Licensing and Patent Enforcement
A licensing agreement’s value can weaken if competitors expect patents to go unenforced. This post explores monitoring, decision-making, funding, and enforcement responsibilities from both parties’ perspectives, highlighting the connection between commercialization and credible patent protection.
Responding to a Potential Infringement Claim
An infringement notice can create both uncertainty and an opportunity for commercial discussion. This post explores business involvement in negotiations and introduces declaratory judgment actions as one possible response when a U.S. patent dispute escalates.
Joint Patent Ownership: Value and Complexity
Joint research can combine complementary expertise, while shared patents can create difficult negotiations. This post explores ownership, licensing, costs, enforcement, and the importance of planning practical governance for collaborative and cross-border innovation.
Have-Made Rights or Sublicensing?
Outsourced manufacturing does not always require broad sublicensing rights. This post compares have-made arrangements with sublicensing and explores how a narrower grant may meet a start-up’s needs while limiting unnecessary commercial and contractual complexity.
Have-Made Rights and Outsourced Manufacturing
A business that designs and sells products may rely on third-party manufacturers. Using the fabless semiconductor model, this post explores have-made rights and why an IP license should clearly address the intended manufacturing arrangement.
Patent Licensing Rights Explained
A patent license can be tailored to the activities a business actually needs. This post introduces basic patent rights and uses manufacturers, distributors, and technology companies to illustrate how different licensing scopes support different business models.
Aligning Licensed Rights With Business Strategy
The rights granted in a license determine how the agreement supports the licensee’s business. This post explores statutory and contractual rights, manufacturing arrangements, and the strategic value of defining what each party can do.
Defining Improvements in a License
What counts as an improvement can become a commercially important question in licensing. This post explores technical dependencies, the surrounding technology ecosystem, and why legal and technical teams need to develop the definition together.
Mutual Improvement Clauses
A mutual improvement clause can give both licensing parties access to future patented developments. This post explores the commercial logic, grant-back and sublicensing questions, and how trade secret choices may influence the arrangement.
Improvement Clauses and Future Licensing
A licensee’s later patent can complicate the licensor’s plans to offer additional licenses. This post explores how improvement clauses can address that risk and support a sustainable strategy for non-exclusive technology licensing.