A cross-licensing agreement is a contract between two or more parties where each party grants rights to their intellectual property to the other parties.
In patent law, a cross-licensing agreement is an agreement according to which two or more parties grant a license to each other for the exploitation of the subject-matter claimed in one or more of the patents each owns.[1] Usually, this type of agreement happens between two parties in order to avoid litigation or to settle an infringement dispute.[2] Very often, the patents that each party owns covers different essential aspects of a given commercial product. Thus by cross licensing, each party maintains their freedom to bring the commercial product to market. The term "cross licensing" implies that neither party pays monetary royalties to the other party, although this may be the case.
For example, Microsoft and JVC entered into a cross license agreement in January 2008.[3] Each party, therefore, is able to practice the inventions covered by the patents included in the agreement.[4] This benefits competition by allowing each more freedom to design products covered by the other's patents without provoking a patent infringement lawsuit.
Parties that enter into cross-licensing agreements must be careful not to violate antitrust laws and regulations. This can easily become a complex issue, involving (as far as the European Union is concerned) Art. 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), previously Art. 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty, (abuse of dominant position, etc.) as well as licensing directives, cartels, etc.
Some companies file patent applications primarily to be able to cross license the resulting patents, as opposed to trying to stop a competitor from bringing a product to market.[5] In the early 1990s, for example, Taiwaneseoriginal design manufacturers, such as Hon Hai, rapidly increased their patent filings after their US competitors brought patent infringement lawsuits against them.[6] They used the patents to cross license.
One of the limitations of cross licensing is that it is ineffective against patent holding companies. The primary business of a patent holding company is to license patents in exchange for a monetary royalty. Thus, they have no need for rights to practice other companies' patents. These companies are often referred to pejoratively as patent trolls.
The economics literature has shown that firms with high capital intensities are more likely to strike a cross-licensing deal.[7]
Non patent law
Other non-patent intellectual property such as copyright and trademark can also be cross-licensed. For example, a literary work and an anthology that includes that literary work may be cross-licensed between two publishers. A cross-license for computer software may involve a combination of patent, copyright, and trademark licensing.
^Shapiro, Carl, “Navigating the Patent Thicket: Cross Licenses, Patent Pools, and Standard Setting”, Innovation Policy and the Economy, MIT Press2001, p119 et seq.
Microsoft having issues with Amazon over cross-licensing
March 07, 2023
cross, licensing, cross, licensing, agreement, contract, between, more, parties, where, each, party, grants, rights, their, intellectual, property, other, parties, contents, patent, patent, also, references, external, linkspatent, editin, patent, cross, licens. A cross licensing agreement is a contract between two or more parties where each party grants rights to their intellectual property to the other parties Contents 1 Patent law 2 Non patent law 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksPatent law EditIn patent law a cross licensing agreement is an agreement according to which two or more parties grant a license to each other for the exploitation of the subject matter claimed in one or more of the patents each owns 1 Usually this type of agreement happens between two parties in order to avoid litigation or to settle an infringement dispute 2 Very often the patents that each party owns covers different essential aspects of a given commercial product Thus by cross licensing each party maintains their freedom to bring the commercial product to market The term cross licensing implies that neither party pays monetary royalties to the other party although this may be the case For example Microsoft and JVC entered into a cross license agreement in January 2008 3 Each party therefore is able to practice the inventions covered by the patents included in the agreement 4 This benefits competition by allowing each more freedom to design products covered by the other s patents without provoking a patent infringement lawsuit Parties that enter into cross licensing agreements must be careful not to violate antitrust laws and regulations This can easily become a complex issue involving as far as the European Union is concerned Art 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union TFEU previously Art 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty abuse of dominant position etc as well as licensing directives cartels etc Some companies file patent applications primarily to be able to cross license the resulting patents as opposed to trying to stop a competitor from bringing a product to market 5 In the early 1990s for example Taiwanese original design manufacturers such as Hon Hai rapidly increased their patent filings after their US competitors brought patent infringement lawsuits against them 6 They used the patents to cross license One of the limitations of cross licensing is that it is ineffective against patent holding companies The primary business of a patent holding company is to license patents in exchange for a monetary royalty Thus they have no need for rights to practice other companies patents These companies are often referred to pejoratively as patent trolls The economics literature has shown that firms with high capital intensities are more likely to strike a cross licensing deal 7 Non patent law EditOther non patent intellectual property such as copyright and trademark can also be cross licensed For example a literary work and an anthology that includes that literary work may be cross licensed between two publishers A cross license for computer software may involve a combination of patent copyright and trademark licensing See also EditCopyright protection for fictional characters Crossover fiction Defensive termination Category Intercompany crossovers Licensing strategic alliance Licensing Executives Society International Patent thicketReferences Edit Shapiro Carl Navigating the Patent Thicket Cross Licenses Patent Pools and Standard Setting Innovation Policy and the Economy MIT Press2001 p119 et seq Statement of Jeffery Fromm Hewlett Packard Company Patent Pools and Cross Licensing 2002 p8 Ed Oswald Microsoft JVC agree to cross license patents BetaNews January 16 2008 2 29 PM The agreement does not necessarily include all of the patents that each owns Archived copy PDF Archived from the original PDF on 2006 09 01 Retrieved 2006 09 15 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link Patent Flooding Mark Nowotarski Introducing Patents into a Major Service Industry les Nouvelles March 2003 Galasso A 2012 Broad Cross License Negotiations Journal of Economics amp Management Strategy Volume 21 Issue 4 pages 873 911 http onlinelibrary wiley com doi 10 1111 j 1530 9134 2012 00348 x abstractExternal links EditExample of patent cross licensing agreement Microsoft having issues with Amazon over cross licensing Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Cross licensing amp oldid 1089305170, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
