How to license
Licensing used to be difficult and expensive. Now, the most difficult part is finding the licensee – unfortunately, that is something we cannot help you with.
Historical problems with licensing
In the past, licensing was difficult:
- Each side needed an attorney to explain issues, make sense of the process and draft the licence.
- The licensor’s attorney would typically prepare the first draft (that leans towards his client) and the licensee’s attorney would need to find and plug the holes.
- Attorneys’ hours would accumulate with a large, but unknown legal cost.
- If a small change was required, the parties would need to return to their attorneys, making revisions cumbersome and expensive.
The alternative was a template licence, but these often forced the parties to squeeze into a rigid, uncomfortable box.
The easy way to negotiate and conclude a licence
Licence Direct makes licensing easy.
The system includes a comprehensive 24-slide questionnaire that:
- guides negotiations, providing options;
- prompts issues that need to be considered and agreed upon; and
- explains each option; and
- provides Tips that explain the options and reduces unnecessary disputes.
It covers licensing of inventions, patents, trademarks, copyright and know-how.
If you are unsure about the royalty rate, see our table of Royalty Rates.
Drafting the licence
Once you have completed the questionnaire, drafting the licence is easy, just click Download Licence and you will receive a PDF version of the licence based on your Questionnaire responses.
Importantly, the downloaded licence is neutral – leaning to neither the licensor or licensee.
Revising the licence
The easiest way to ruin a licence is for the parties to edit the licence themselves. A change to one clause often requires changes to other clauses; terminology must be consistent; and wording should not be ambiguous. Instead, save the licence. Should you wish to make a change, login, select the licence you wish to edit, make the necessary change to the Questionnaire and download a new version of the licence (based on the edited Questionnaire).
Do the same while negotiating the licence – it’s unlikely that you will agree upon all the issues in one day, so save the partially completed Questionnaire and return to it when you’re ready to continue.
Cost to draft a licence
TM Direct is offered by S&Z without cost. You can freely:
- complete the Questionnaire;
- save draft and completed Questionnaires / licences;
- download licences based on the completed Questionnaire;
- edit the Questionnaire; and
- download revised licences.
About S&Z
S&Z was formed in 2007 as an IP firm that specialised in IP commercialisation and tax structuring. Today, S&Z (together with GlobalIPCo) focusses on creating systems that automates and reduces the cost of intellectual property protection, making S&Z the largest filer of South African patents (2022- 2025). Licence Direct is just one of their products that assist inventors.