licensing

Marcelo Barros is an attorney at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner. [Photo courtesy of Finnegan]

Prevent costly disputes caused by these common mistakes in patent license agreements.

Marcelo Barros, Kathleen Daley, Brian Kacedon and Matthew Ritter, Finnegan

Licensing and other technology transfer agreements can be critical for medical device companies that invest significantly into new technology R&D and seek and obtain intellectual property protection for those investments. But if these agreements are not carefully drafted, they can create more problems than they solve.

To avoid the common pitfalls that tend to create issues in patent license agreements, watch out for a few of the most common mistakes when drafting them.

Common drafting mistakes

First and foremost, license agreements should avoid terms that are ambiguous and vague. Imprecise language can lead to uncertain…