Patent is a monopoly right conferred upon by the Patent Office
on an inventor to exploit his invention for a limited period of
time. Patents are predominantly used to protect an invention
from being abused by competitors. What do we mean by the term
‘Patent licensing’? A patent licence is an agreement that
transfers less than ownership rights in a patent or, which
grants certain rights to the licensee. A patent licence can be
exclusive or non-exclusive, for a specific field of use or for a
specific geographical area. It is common for companies engaged
in complex technical fields to enter into dozens of licence
agreements associated with the production of a single product.
There are four types of patent licenses- compulsory licence,
cross-licensing, defensive patent licence and reasonable and
nondiscriminatory (FRAND). What is FRAND? FRAND stands for Fair,
Reasonable and Non- Discriminatory. It is also known as
Reasonable and Non-discriminatory terms (RAND). It is a
licensing obligation that is frequently requ