The first part of this Handbook is dedicated to transversal IP licensing issues and contains chapters addressing various aspects of IP licensing that do not depend on the type of intellectual rights licensed but rather apply to all types of IP licensing transactions and all IP rights. Specifically, this part starts with chapters relating to important areas of law outside of IP law (i.e. competition law and bankruptcy law) that affect the validity and enforceability of IP licensing agreements. This part also includes a chapter focusing on IP licensing from a private international law perspective, notably the governing law that applies to international IP license agreements. It also covers chapters addressing IP licensing from an international dispute resolution perspective. In this respect, this part includes a chapter on IP licensing disputes under international investment law, which is a topic of growing importance, and the arbitration of IP licensing disputes, both from procedural and substantive law perspectives.

The second part of this Handbook features chapters covering specific categories of IP licensing transactions that govern the licensing of specific types of IP rights. The second part starts with copyrights and data licensing , with chapters on copyright transactions from both a US copyright law perspective and a European perspective, a chapter on open-source software licensing, and a chapter on data licensing from an EU perspective. It then turns to patent, trade secrets, and technology licensing , with dedicated chapters on international patent licensing, the licensing of Standards-Essential Patents on FRAND terms, the licensing of trade secrets and know-how, technology licensing between academic institutions and private companies, and socially responsible IP licensing (discussing the case of the Medicines Patent Pool―MPP). The second part wraps up by presenting trademark licensing and character merchandising transactions , with a chapter offering comparative perspectives on trademark licensing and a chapter on character merchandising licensing agreements.

The third part of this Handbook presents selected national or regional policies on IP licensing with the intention of offering a sample of the diversity of approaches applicable to IP licensing on various continents. Notably, this part focuses on selected local IP licensing policies in Africa, Asia, and South America.