Nonexclusive patent licensing

Matthew Tirrell Members of the consortia have a right of first refusal for a most-favored, nonexclusive license of patents on inventions made solely by University of Minnesota faculty, staff, and students. If no member company elects to obtain a license, then the patent reverts to the University of Minnesota s Patent and Trademark Marketing operation to handle. This is a quid pro quo for the University of Minnesota s support for the center. All member participation agreements include the university s standard patent agreement. 

A patent may be licensed under the terms which give to the licensee the right to make, use or sell the patented invention. It is in this respect similar to a piece of property which may be leased and may be also sold. A license may be exclusive or nonexclusive. It may be restricted as to a certain geographical territory, or to certain industrial fields, or may even be restricted to a certain specific factory or other place of commerce and industry. 

Several functioning examples of open source patent systems exist. The Public Patent Foundation (PPF) is one such initiative that facilitates the creation of a commons wherein patents may be pooled and made freely available to other participants [134]. The specific method applied by the PPF is to grant a nonexclusive and payment-free license to participants. The Biological Innovation of Open Society (BIOS) also involves technologies for which patent rights have been granted. 

The license to Baxter, however, was made exclusive for 4.5 years emd nonexclusive thereafter, until the expiration of emy issued patent. The rationale for the limited exclusive period was that such protection was necessary and desirable to induce Baxter to invest the substantial time and money necessary to develop the product and create a market. Bcixter, subsequently requested an extension of the exclusive period which was eventually granted for expiration in December, 1957. 

The license then became nonexclusive and remained in effect until the patent finally expired in 1973. Baxter s sterile invert product was quickly accepted and enjoyed increasing sales volume during the life of the license and the product is currently well established for intravenous feeding. 

Parallel to reactivating liquid crystal research, Roche established a TN patent and licensing team for nonexclusively licensing and defending the TN patent worldwide [19]. For the first time in its history, Roche also entered into... 

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