Chapter 10
Key Deal Points
In This Chapter
◆ Understanding corporate boilerplate
◆ Relationships versus transactions
◆ Fairness and flexibility
◆ Management by objectives
◆ What you want in an agreement
Nobody eats until someone sells something. And you can’t sell
something until it’s been created. The independent creator and the
marketer must behave as if they thoroughly depend on one another,
because they do. That means that as tensions in the creative process
emerge, as conflicts between making and selling arise, everything is on
the table except the relationship itself. The relationship must survive.
True partners in the creative process must focus on meeting the needs
of the relationship as well as the terms of an agreement.
something until it’s been created. The independent creator and the
marketer must behave as if they thoroughly depend on one another,
because they do. That means that as tensions in the creative process
emerge, as conflicts between making and selling arise, everything is on
the table except the relationship itself. The relationship must survive.
True partners in the creative process must focus on meeting the needs
of the relationship as well as the terms of an agreement.
—Michael Ross, senior VP/GM, Britannica
If you get to the point that a company wants to negotiate a license for your invention, congratulations! This is a major accomplishment and a credit to you and your invention. But your work is far from over. In a sense, it is just beginning. Now you need to forge a licensing agreement. This will take experience, patience, thick skin, stamina, common sense, a diplomat’s ear, and a good sense of humor. And frequently you may have to be able to jump into troubled waters without making a splash, to borrow an appropriate metaphor from Art Linkletter.
In Chapter 9, I discussed how to negotiate. In this chapter, I comment on, in broad strokes, select issues from the sample licensing agreement in Appendix B. By the way, if you are not ready to negotiate a license, I have provided a sample option agreement, also found in Appendix B.
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