Patent Strategy - Preliminary Aspects of License Agreements

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Patent Strategy - Preliminary Aspects of License Agreements

Dr. Uta Köster is an attorney-at-law with a doctorate degree in Biology. Her practice focuses on Patent law, particularly, Biotechnology patents. She is an associate with the Munich based Intellectual Property Law firm Bardehle Pagenberg Dost Altenburg Geissler.

I. Introduction

In particular, during the past 10-15 years the awareness for the value of intellectual property within companies has risen enormously. If before 1985 there might have been a certain general hesitance towards filing applications, today there is a veritable race for protection which is reflected in the exponentially rising statistics of applications for patents and trademarks in Europe and the U.S. as well as in the other major industrialized countries.

While earlier the first priority was to file a patent (or utility model) application for any invention that seemed to be "patentable", there has now been a certain shift towards a more strategic approach. Patents and Intellectual Property (IP) in general are undergoing a revolution with regard to their appreciation as intangible assets. Surveys on the most valuable trademarks (with Coca-...

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