What does it mean to “license” or “assign” a patent or application?
When an applicant or patent owner wishes to allow others to use part or all of the property right, but wishes to keep control of the application and the rights to sell other parts to other parties, the applicant offers a “non-exclusive license”. This allows the licensee to practice the invention under stipulation of a contract and allows the applicant to profit from the license. The contract could be written to be a one time lump sum payment or a yearly fee. It could also be written to allow a smaller yearly fee and a percentage of each device manufactured or sold that embodies the licensed invention. When an applicant or patent owner wishes to allow others to use part or all the property right, but wishes to retain control of the application or patent but does not want other parties than the licensee to own the particular licensed feature(s), an exclusive license is granted, again via a contract. If an applicant or patent owner wishes to assign all right to the application or patent t
