Licence
Contract Law

Licences are a grant of a permission by an owner of rights to land, intellectual property rights or some other type of property.

For instance, an owner of patent rights may license their patent to third parties to manufacture or distribute the patented invention to relieve themselves of the burden of manufacturing the invention or distributing the invention themselves. Similar concepts apply to licensing copyright works, know-how, articles incorporating an industrial design and trade mark rights.

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, Patents Act 1977 and Designs Act 1949 grant statutory licences in limited circumstances, which includes compulsory licences and implied licences.

The common law will usually imply a licence into a contract where it is reasonable (and more importantly necessary) to do so, to give effect to the objective intention of the parties to the contract.

Although non-exclusive licences to not need to be evidenced in writing, however it is sound commercial practice to do so to properly manage the limitations on the licence granted that might otherwise be misconstrued or abused.