Cross-Licensing Of Patents

Introduction

A cross-licensing contract between the two parties is an agreement where they grant patent licenses to each other. Such agreements, basically, involve exchange of essential patented knowledge between two parties who are seeking to further their own technological progresses.

The top players in every field, particularly the automobile, telecommunication, broadcasting and pharmaceutical industries are engaged with each other through cross-licensing contracts.

For example, Intel Inc. has several cross-licensing agreements with Advance Micro Devices Inc. (AMD).¹ Similarly, Google and Samsung have agreements that cover existing patents as well as those to be filed in the next 10 years from the dates of agreements.²