Mag. Balazs Esztegar LL.M.
Attorney-at-law Vienna


Piaristengasse 41/10
1080 Vienna, Austria
Tel. +43 1 997 4102
Fax +43 1 997 4102-99
office@esztegar.at

Licence Agreement

The permissible use of intellectual property is usually agreed on in a licence agreement. Licence agreements can be made about a high variety of assets. They may have for subject works protected by copyright like texts, pictures or piece of music, but they can regulate in just the same manner the permissible use of trademark by a business partner.

For a licence agreement it is always characteristic that it is describing as accurately as possible the subject of the licence, i.e. the scope of use authorised by the licence agreement. Furthermore, the licence fee, i.e. the compensation paid by the licensee for the licensor is also an important component of such an agreement.

 

Finally, a licence agreement should provide also regulations for the case of abuse or, respectively, for the transgression of the rights of use. In practice it is in general preferred to stipulate here a lump sum penalty in order to save the often difficult evidence of the damage actually incurred. However, contractual penalties are practically always subjected to the judge’s right of mitigation.