Strategic Factors Affecting Licensing Negotiations

Recently we looked at how a party's market role or position might affect the tone of a negotiation.   In this post we'll take a first look at a number of other strategic factors that can influence the shape of a licensing deal.    This is a very broad topic, so we will list these generally first.   In our next post, we will take a look at some industry examples.

For the sake of clarity, we'll assume below that you are doing the licensing. If you're a licensee, simply reverse the analysis.

Licensing Negotiations - profiling the opposition

Before entering into any technology license negotiation, it's sensible to first develop a profile of the party you're negotiating with.   With IP negotiations, this can be done in a number of ways, but in this post we'll talk about how a party's role in the market can impact on their profile.

Here's a quick breakdown of how a party's market role can affect their negotiation stance: