Unlock the Power of eSignature Lawfulness for Assignment of Intellectual Property in India

How to eSign a document: e-signature lawfulness for Assignment of intellectual property in India

now what is the role of Licensing in business and economy the first question is is intellectual property wealth in itself well we say that in the knowledge economy intellectual property is wealth but intellectual property is not wealth in itself it can be converted into wealth by its exploitation and licensing is the major way in which intellectual property is exploited is it really the second question is is it really possible for the creator to utilize his property himself well that may be the case in many cases but in most of the situation's the intellectual property is utilized by somebody who is not the owner that means the owner invites somebody or permit somebody to utilize his intellectual property and that permission is known as a license the third question is is it possible or feasible for businesses to create everything in-house in a modern economy well no mostly businesses depend its business these days as a collaborative venture so you cannot create all the intellectual property that you want or that you require for your business many times you create some properties some intellectual properties and license in the others that you require we know it as a fact that the greatest economic value of intellectual property in the modern economy comes from licensing so licensing is indispensable to the modern economy that is the role licensing place in the modern business and economy licensing is also a strategic tool for innovation in various ways first licensing allows the owner of intellectual property to concentrate on his core competence for example there is a research institution now the core competence of that institution is to do research is to do fundamental research and make new inventions that research institution may not be and is not usually competent to take the invention to the industry and thereby thereafter to the market for that we have the steel houses and mock tears so licensing allows this research institution to concentrate on its core competence that is creativity that is invention so once they invent they can utilize this instrument of licensing to transfer their invention to the market entities to the industrial entities thereby earning through in the form of royalty income now licensing further allows you to access new markets in the throughout the world for example there is a owner of intellectual property he has his markets in India but then he wants to expand to Europe now he has no presence in Europe he has never done business in Europe it may not be possible for him to directly take his property to Europe for marketing thereby he can use therefore he can use the instrument of licensing and a license an entity a business entity or a marketing entity in Europe to take and sell his property intellectual property in Europe thereby Licensing allows you to grow allows you to access new markets licensing also allows you to test new markets for example the same businessman expands to expand in Africa but he doesn't know about the business climate the business environment of Africa so before he ventures himself out in Africa he can he can test the market through a licensee he can first license his property to somebody a business entity in Africa and if that venture is successful then he can think of going to Africa himself and doing business himself well licensing is an instrument of turning an infringement infringer into an Hawaii normally infringers are seen as opponents or has seen as enemies of any intellectual property holder but that is a very very very very impractical and very primitive view who is an infringer normally an infringer if I am the owner of an intellectual property an infringer is a person who needs my property in the first place - who knows how to exploit it so if I can shake hand with an infringer or compel to shake hands with me and try to sell him a license then then he can do whatever he was doing before he can do it just by paying me my share of his earnings that is my royalty thereby Licensing allows the conversion of an infringer into a friend licensing allows the utilization of intellectual property that the owner doesn't use himself in the course of its business a business entity might create a lot of intellectual property might generate lot of intellectual property like copyright like trademarks like patents like inventions etc so all those properties are not needed may not be needed by that business for all the times so what to do with the intellectual property that is still current that is still called an intellectual property which has not passed in public domain but it is not utilizable by the owner himself so he can invite others and grant them licenses over the redundant intellectual property which is of no use to him but which can be abused to many other persons then licensing also allows you through spin-offs to take the technology or invention which was made for a particular cause to be utilized for a totally different cause for example our past president dr. APJ Abdul Kalam invented carbon-carbon material which was invented for space vehicle program because they wanted to make the fate of certain components feel very less so this carbon-carbon material really reduced the waste of the component space parts of space components significantly so the same technology was used for making artificial limbs of persons who had no limbs for example a person has no legs so we were in search of such a material which was lessen weight and at the same time very sturdy so this material which was invented for space technology was ultimately utilized also for making artificial limbs so all this through the instrument of Licensing licensing is a strategic business tool is sort of a partnership is sort of a joint venture so it is a joint venture between the owner of intellectual property and the person who has the ability to exploit it so the owner himself may or may not have the ability or willingness to exploit his property so we can invite the person who specializes in exploitation of the property and thereby make a joint venture with him for example take the case of the author of a book the author of the book knows how to write the book but then he doesn't know how to print and publish the book he may not have any market presence to market his book to sell his book to take the book to the consumer for that if he utilizes the instrument of licenses and allows a publisher to take over this aspect of the distribution publication and distribution of the book then he can concentrate on his core competence that is creation of the book writing of the book thereby there is a division of labor and through this joint venture the book is ultimately taken to its audience now what exactly is licensing licensing legally speaking is convergence of intellectual property and contracts primarily law of contract and IP combined to form the body of law that is known as licensing law professor lamenting Emer who has authored one of the most important books on licensing of intellectual property stated I quote thinking of contract and intellectual property as isolated and discrete boxes of principles is an impoverished idea law as a practical discipline relates to human activity which defies being bossed so if we see if we dissect licensing law what do we find first it is comprised of law of contract because every license has to be a contract first well where is this law of contract contained this law of contract is primarily contained in a statute in India which is known as the Indian contract Act of 1872 further this law of contract in case of licenses is also contained within intellectual property statutes most of the intellectual property statutes like Copyright Act 19:57 paid and sacked 1970 and trademarks act 1999 they contain elaborate provisions as to contracting activity in case of the respective intellectual properties whether it is copyright patent or trademark so contract law is contained within the contract Act as well as within the intellectual property statutes then licensing law is also comprised by intellectual in comprised of intellectual property law further competition law has a lot of bearing on licensing activity and most of the issues regarding most of the competition law issues that arise in case of intellectual property arise in case of its licensing only then consumer protection law is also called in in license within licensing law fold because many times the consumers are licenses for example we consume computer software by becoming licensees and the provider of the computer software is the licensure so the provider of computer software say Microsoft Windows is not a seller of computer software he is only a licensure and when we buy Windows we become licenses of the Microsoft Corporation then taxation law also has a lot of bearing on licensing law the treatment of royalties how royalties are to be distributed vertically the taxation upon those royalty income etcetera etcetera they are all governed by taxation law so licensing law basically is an amalgam of all these different doctrines of law next we come to the influence of intellectual property law on licensed contracts first intellectual property law defines the scope of the rights that means the consideration part when a and B agree whereby a agrees a and we agree to form a contract whereby a agrees to grant his intellectual property to be and B agrees to pay in return for that grant what has happened a transfer of intellectual property so the scope of that intellectual property the scope of that transfer is to be mired in ance with the law of intellectual property because it's the law of intellectual property which defines the exact scope of the prop and thereby defining the exact scope of law of this exact scope of grant intellectual property law may provide four requirements over and above the requirements of journal contracts many times the general contract law may not provide with some requirements for example writing or signatures whereas intellectual property law may go above the general law of contracts and provide for such requirements it delineates the scope of the license by laying down the contours or establishing the contours of the exact rights the scope of rights that are available it determines the scope of a licensed intellectual property law many times also provide the default or background rules for a license the parties to a license may assert certain rights against third parties who are strangers to contract for example the law of contract says that only the parties to a contract can sue and be sued upon the contract but in case of intellectual property law their exceptions made to this fundamental rule of contract law which is also known as the doctrine of privity of contract intellectual property law may also provide for compulsory licenses normally contracts are free we have the theory of freedom of contract if the party owns something he is free to contract it out but in certain cases of regarding intellectual property the law has provisions for the grant of compulsory license that means the if the person wants a license he is not required to go to the owner of the intellectual property instead his rima go to the state and obtain a license from the state which is known as the compulsory license apart from compulsory license there is also a provision for statutory licenses in various statutes like copyright statute Copyright Act of India 1957 so it contains provisions for statutory license now what is the statutory license statutory license is a gener of compulsory license where the statute itself has granted a license to everybody whosoever is willing to comply with the conditions laid down in the statute itself