Licensing intellectual property
Intellectual property can be bought, sold or licensed.
The new UK National Security and Investment Act 2021 comes into effect fully from 4 January 2022. Businesses and investors should check the guidance to understand what types of acquisitions are covered by the new rules.
A licence is an agreement between you as the IP right owner and another party. It grants them permission to do something that would be an infringement of the rights without the licence.
IP can be “licensed-out” or “licensed-in”. You can “license-out” to another company in return for a fee. You can “license-in” if you want to use another company’s IP to develop your own business and products. The person granting the licence is usually called the licensor, and the person receiving the licence is usually called the licensee. There may be more than one licensor or more than one licensee in a licence agreement.
[IP BASICS: Should I license or franchise my Intellectual Property?](https://www.youtube.com/w
Updates to this page
Published 12 December 2014Last updated 22 January 2025 + show all updates
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IPSUM is no longer available and has been replaced by search for a patent.
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New text has been added to inform our users of the new UK National Security and Investment Act 2021 that comes into effect fully from 4 January 2022. Businesses and investors should check the guidance to understand what types of acquisitions are covered by the new rules.
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Under the heading patents and ‘licences of right’, the change is from 10 working days to 28 working days.
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Video added to guide 'IP BASICS: Should I license or franchise my Intellectual Property?'.
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Patents and ‘licences of right’ section added.
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First published.