Licensing out is a highly effective way to maximize utilization of an intellectual asset portfolio. The common business objectives associated with licensing out in order of importance to the licensor are: to collect royalties; to enter a foreign market; to exchange technology with an industrial or commercial partner; to support the selling of products or services that require the use of a specific technology; to benefit from a specific development as a user; to favor the spread of a technical standard; to settle patent infringement conflicts. Furthermore a company’s competitive arsenal should include an aggressive licensing program if when conducting a portfolio segmentation/valuation analysis a large number of high-value assets fall into the licensing-out category of disposition.

Before embarking on a licensing out program, a company should develop a licensing plan based on overall corporate business strategy, identification and evaluation of licensing opportunities, aggressive pursuit of those opportunities, and implementation of auditing procedures to ensure full compliance with license agreements. It is possible for companies to license out both technologies that supports their core business and technology that is peripheral to it.