The proposal binders may include the following sections: a brief description of the company and its licensing activity; high-level description of the intellectual assets to be licensed; summary of the applicable market segment; information regarding the products and services of the target licensee; marketing materials and press releases regarding the intellectual assets to be licensed; analysis and visualization of the portfolio to show its strengths and weaknesses; summary of the executed license agreements; and/or copies of the actual protected intellectual assets.

Careful and complete preparation has been proven to significantly reduce the time to contract signing and produce demonstrably more revenue to the license holder.  That said, no transaction process is complete without the human element. Negotiators have to fully understand how the art under consideration best fits the potential licensees’ business strategy and the licensor’s need for a sustainable revenue stream. A win-win posture and focus on rapport with all parties is key to a successful negotiation.

Thus, successful licensing of IP requires that all parties in a transaction agree on a few basic principles, assumptions and trends. At the onset of negotiation it’s useful to make sure these principles, assumptions and trends are understood by and are consistent between both parties.  These questions are: Do you understand why we are here and why we would license to you? Do you agree with the direction which we maintain the market is moving? Do you see that the products and services required to be successful in this future market are within the scope of our IP? Do you realize how our IP is a core solution from which further custom innovations and enhancements can be added? You understand how we have valued the IP? Do you recognize how you can achieve significant competitive advantage with this IP, and be at the cutting edge of this new market direction?