What types of patent licenses are there?
Patent licenses are divided into the following five basic types:
Type 1, Exclusive license. Within a mutually agreed territory (a country or a region), only the licensee is allowed to implement the patent, and no one else, including the patentee, is allowed to implement the patent.
Type 2: Sole license. Within the agreed territory (a country or a region), only the licensee and the patentee are allowed to enforce the patent, and no third party is allowed to enforce the patent.
Type 3, General License. Within the agreed territory (a country or a region), more than one party may be allowed to enforce the patent.
Type 4, sub-license. In the agreed territory (a country or a region), in allowing the licensee to implement the patent at the same time, also allows the culprit to allow others to implement the patent; this must be specified in the contract, otherwise the licensee sublicense.
Type 5, cross-license. Negotiated by the two patentees, the two sides unconditional or conditional mutual use of each other's patents.
