BizSugar.com › Legal › When Should You Have Intellectual Property Licensing Agreements?

Persons or businesses that own intellectual property have certain rights in that property. Intellectual property includes copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets. Owners of these properties are free to give as little, or as many, of their rights in these assets to other parties. This is done through intellectual property licensing agreements. In these agreements, an intellectual property rights owner (licensor) authorizes certain rights to another (licensee) in exchange for an agreed payment in the form of either a fee or a royalty, or some combination of both. It’s important to note that a licensing agreement does not convey ownership; ownership is conveyed through an assignment in which all the rights to an intellectual property are given to another.