기업의 특허상호실시계약(Cross License Agreement)에 관한법적 연구

At a recent, hundreds of news on a cross license agreement signed between firms has been reported. The cross license which the cross grants are symmetrical, against a normal license agreement is one of technology transfers through technical cooperation. The number of the cross licensing deals has been increasing in technical advanced countries, in particular USA, EU, JAPAN. Fousing electronics industry, competitors have entered into cross licenses to eliminate the possibility of patent infringement litigation between them. On the other hand, the domestic manufacturers have been using the cross license as a strategic tool for a technical cooperation. In spite of the growing importance of the cross license agreement, Korea’s legislative system is weak in dealing with this issue. The cross license agreement is basically similar to a normal license agreement except for some particularities; a license exchange, a technical cooperation method between the same kind of firms, etc. From this point of view, the study corresponding to the growing issues on cross license deals is to focus on the background of a expansive trend, the legal nature, the object and terms of licensing. Considering the parties keep contract of the cross license agreement or the details under wraps, there are limitations to data accessibility to obtain the written contracts.