Patents and trademarks may be freely licensed wholly or in part,
and for part of the territory, provided that no confusion arises
as an effect thereof, among customers.
The registration(s) for the licensed trademark(s) are subject
to lapse if the licensor does not exercise quality control and
control of use,including control over the packaging materials
and the packaging designs.
Licenses effective on the European Union are subject to European
Competition law,which is applicable even if neither of the parties
is a national of a Member state of the EU.
To some extent this is true as well for franchising agreements.
Technology licensing in Europe is regulated by the Technology
Transfer Block Exemption,issued by the European Commission. It
exempts some transactions from the Europe's antitrust laws,particularly
Articles 85 and 86 which respectively prohibit firms from entering
anticompetitive agreements and from abusing any dominant market
position.
Therefore the agreements should be cross-analysed under the domestic
and the EU laws as well.
