The Fairy Tale Guide to Licensing

Stephanie Hsieh, began her career as an IP attorney helping a wide range of clients to find and negotiate their ‘happily ever afters,’ and now does the same for her company, Meditope. In this article, she shares some tips on how to avoid getting eaten by a wolf or stuck with a frog. (Since being asked to write this article for Springboard Enterprises blog Stephanie has moved from Meditope Biosciences, Inc. to Biocom but we think that licensing tips still apply).

Stephanie’s take-aways are:

• “Prince Charming” doesn’t grow on trees! Have patience when searching for ‘eligible’ partners.

• “Happily ever after” takes careful thought and planning. Both sides need a shared vision of ‘happily ever after’. Define it and agree to a plan for getting the deal done at the outset.

• There’s no “magic” to “magic beans”. People will throw around jargon or, worse (my personal favorite), tell you they can’t change ‘the template’. Understand the other side’s intent — what are they trying to achieve with a given term. If you know their intent, you are freed to be creative and tailor terms to the situation — rather than just accept the ‘magic’ of the template.

You can read Stephanie’s full article here.