What to Consider (and Do) Before Licensing IP – PART I

Plug “Biotech Licensing” into Google and you’ll get back over five million search results. It doesn’t take a business guru to know that technology licensing is a big part of the emerging tech arena. But how do companies actually find IP, and what should they be considering before they even contemplate negotiating a licensing agreement?

 

In this post, I’ll attempt to answer those questions, by summarizing some of the advice I give to clients looking to license technology.

 

Identify Licensors and IP

So how do you find a licensor? Sometimes you’re lucky enough to hear about someone with the perfect IP for you to license, or even better, they approach YOU, and say, “hey, we think there’s a biotech application here, but we think you’re company is better able to develop it than we are,” and they offer you a license. Great, problem solved. But the reality is, it’s often difficult to find IP that is not only available for license, but can turn into something commercially viable.

 

So let’s talk about some other ways to identify licensors. Well the easiest way is using something I like to call, the Google. Sounds simple, but very quickly you may be able to identify companies that may have IP they are willing to license. In fact, sometimes, they even specifically state as much on their site. (For five places to find IP, check out this POST) Obviously, everyone knows about google, but my point is to not overlook some of the basic search tools for identifying possible licensing partners.

 

And not just for licensing, but for other possible collaborations. For example, one of our clients, based here in Cleveland, used google to find a manufacturing partner for their product, and what started as an initial cold call explaining an interest in potentially collaberating, has flourished into a very exciting partnership, that has begun to grow into partnerships on other fronts. Incidentally, that manufacturer isn’t located in China, or on either of the Coasts, but right here in Cleveland.

 

That goes to my second point, don’t overlook local resources. There’s this concept that in order to find intriguing IP and sophisticated licensing partners, you have to look to the coasts or simply somewhere else. A kind of, “Not in My Backyard” mentality. Just in Northeast Ohio not only are there incredible resources right here, but there are organizations waiting to assist tech start ups, like BioEnterprise, JumpStart, MAGNET, and Techlift. These types of organizations are popping up all over the country, meaning there’s a lot of assistance out there for tech startups.

All of these organization are easily accessible and have the resources to help your company get what it needs. Let me give you a quick example, a client company of mine has developed some very innovative technology that requires very sensitive equipment to measure it’s efficiency. It wasn’t until we contacted several of these organizations that we were put in touch with some folks over at NASA who had the equipment we needed. Therefore, ergo, vis-a-vis, try to find resources locally before looking elsewhere.

When we continue in the next post, we’ll pick up with: I’VE FOUND A POTENTIAL PARTNER AND IP, NOW WHAT?