Licensing Law

Licensing agreements play a key role in all areas relating to intellectual property. Whether it is patents, copyright, design, know-how or trademarks – in all cases, licensing agreements determine authority for use and the business model.

Granting rights of use not only needs to be taken into consideration for traditional licensing agreements, but also in a variety of other types of agreement: creating websites, drafting ASP agreements or transferring databases all call for copyright provisions which may be critical to the quality of the overall contractual framework. Realising the value of works on the Internet, in particular, opens up new sales channels involving new legal issues. We see it as our task to devise a clear agreement for you which is fair to your interests and tailored to your personal situation.

Both when using software and with traditional forms of work, free licensing is increasingly required. This applies for open source software just as it does for works which are permitted to be used under creative commons licences. These licensing models bring with them special legal problems where we have particular expertise. For instance, copyleft licences demand that edits of the original work be made accessible under the same open source licensing conditions; determining when this is applicable needs to be assessed against the respective technical configuration, and calls for experience in this area where law and technology interface – experience you can count on with us.