(543b) Avoiding Backdoor Licensing and Other Tech Agreement Mistakes

Engineers in the course of business will encounter technology related agreements involving patents, trade secrets, know-how or other forms of intellectual property.  For example technology agrements are necessary when organizing a startup company, jointly developing a product with a customer, or buying a product from a vendor when trade secrets on using the product need to be disclosed. There are many ways agreements can result in accidental tech transfer or worse. For example, universities can lose valuable licensing revenue when professors invent while acting as consultants outside of the confines of the university.  This presentation studies the more common mistakes engineers and scientists make in creating and implementing agreements with outside parties from the everyday confidentiality agreement to the occasional joint venture.  Some mistakes occur by accident and others because the other party was not trustworthy. In both cases the foreseeable risks can be quantified and handled to avoid making an agreement you might regret later. There is more to doing a smart agreement than reading the fine print.