In technology licensing, inconsistency can be a major barrier to success and unnecessarily consume precious time, asserts Laura A. Schoppe, president of Fuentek, on her company blog. “There is much to be gained from standardizing your technology commercialization process as much as you can and then post that process information on the technology transfer office’s website,” she advises. Schoppe offers these tips to enhance consistency:

Empower your innovators: Most TTOs, Schoppe notes, are servants to two masters: potential licensees and the researchers developing the innovations that attract them. “For the latter, provide guidance, forms, and other useful information, facilitating innovator participation in technology transfer,” she suggests. “For example, the website for MIT’s Technology Licensing Office has a lot of well organized information for the ‘MIT Community.’”

Make it easier, clearer for your licensees: Create and post checklists and the steps in your process online. “Being clear and straightforward about your process ingratiates you to potential licensees,” says Schoppe. “It also helps ensure that the same prospect doesn’t come into your organization two different times and experiences two different processes. That kind of inconsistency does not reflect well on your organization.” The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) website, she notes, provides a great example of useful process information for potential licensees, as does NASA’s Glenn Research Center.

Increase your staff’s productivity: Schoppe says you should post information that clearly lays out your office’s process and procedures. “Rather than have your staff spend an hour repeating the process to each prospect or innovator, wouldn’t you rather they do something more valuable with that time?” she poses. “Philips, for example, has loads of information about its licensing programs on a very well organized website.”

Eliminate the dead-ends early: “Post a basic standard form with a term sheet, such as NASA Glenn’s model terms and conditions for technology licenses,” says Schoppe. “If you and your prospect can’t come to agreement on something as simple as that, there is no point in proceeding into negotiations.”

Speed up negotiations: “Develop a robust standard licensing agreement,” Schoppe recommends. “A well-thought-out template that covers all possibilities dramatically speeds up negotiations. UNC got a lot of coverage for their Carolina Express License Agreement and WARF provides several sample agreements.”

Avoid trouble later: “Document your rules to help ensure that potential licensees fully understand what they’re getting into, avoiding unpleasant surprises later,” says Schoppe.  Making things up as you go along or having every staff member doing things differently is a recipe for disaster later on, she warns.

Source: Fuentek Intellectual Property Management Blog

Posted October 12th, 2010 under Intellectual Property Marketing

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