LES Education + Courses

LES professional development and education courses are the most efficient, effective way to deepen your IP knowledge and deal-making skills. We offer courses for individuals with all levels of experience, working in all IP industry sectors. LES courses are taught by industry experts with the most current, relevant expertise in the areas they teach.

In addition to what you will learn in a LES course, you will also make new connections–expand your network, not just your knowledge!  

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IP Licensing Basics IP Negotiation BasicsFoundations in IP ValuationMechanics of a LicenseDue DiligenceIndustry and UniversitiesLegal EthicsNegotiation SkillsCLP Exam ReviewManaging IP Value in Startups & Early-Stage Ventures


Course Descriptions

  IP Licensing Basics

There is more emphasis now than ever before on commercialization, company formation, and job creation from the billions of dollars invested annually in research and development at America’s universities, government laboratories, and small businesses. Whether you are an entrepreneur in the making, a principal investigator or student at any level who wants a better grasp of the basics, or an aspiring technology transfer professional, this course will give you the tools you need to understand and participate effectively in the process of protecting IP and facilitating its commercialization.

Delivered over 2 days, this course consists of 4 modules:

    • IP Basics
    • IP Commercialization Basics
    • Licensing Fees & Royalty Rates
    • Managing Risk

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  IP Negotiation Basics

Have you thought about the knowledge and skills needed to negotiate well? Consider learning from experts in this immersive and interactive opportunity. The guiding philosophy of this seminar is that situational awareness and understanding of people and negotiating room dynamics wins every time over reliance on tactics like “good cop, bad cop.” Our goal is to help you identify the skills needed to build a foundation that will support the development of sound strategies and implementation of fact-driven actions.

This seminar touches on the following:

    • Principles of Negotiations
    • Overcoming Uncertainty
    • Team Structure
    • Finding Alternative Solutions
    • A Positive Roadmap to Negotiating
    • Preparing for the Negotiations

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  Foundations in IP Valuation

How do you put a value on your intellectual property assets? Have you ever wondered whether you left money on the table? Has the other side ever suddenly lost interest in your offer? Move to the next level in negotiating your deals by applying valuation approaches that the experts use.

In this interactive course, you will:

    • Learn the three primary IP valuation approaches and how and when to apply them.
    • Walk through the key steps and considerations in implementing a cost, market and income approach valuation and how to apply them.
    • Learn practical approaches for assessing risk and incorporating risk adjustments into an IP valuation.
    • Apply IP valuation to develop negotiating strategies and deal terms and how deal terms can be used to manage risk.

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  Mechanics of a License

Session 1 – Grant Clauses To kick off our Mechanics of a License series, we’re talking about arguably the most important clause in a licensing agreement: the grant clause. There’s something for everyone in this crash course on what’s conveyed through the execution of a license.

Session 2 – Royalty Clauses Most* licensors want to be paid, of course. Other things being equal, licensors like to get as much as they can up front and nonrefundable, to reduce the risk that, for whatever reasons, the licensee won’t be able to execute. For so-called running royalties, licensors don’t want to spend a lot of time and money making sure that they’re not being shorted. Especially when an exclusive license is granted, a licensor will generally want to bargain for minimum quarterly- or annual royalties (or other performance standards). Licensees, on the other hand, generally want to minimize their nonrefundable and up-front payments and their minimum-royalty obligations. For running royalties, licensees want to streamline their ongoing bookkeeping, reporting, and paperwork burdens. Both sides should have in mind that market conditions could change, which might call for change in the arrangements. This session will explore creative ways of addressing the “legitimate needs and greeds” of both sides of the table, featuring annotated license-agreement clauses based on real-world agreements. *Not including the software developers who release their code under various flavors of Free / Open-Source Software (FOSS) licenses.

Session 3 – Indemnification Which way does indemnity apply – from licensor to licensee, from licensee to licensor, or both? In this session of Mechanics of a License, we’ll discuss damage clauses and indemnification clauses, including knock-for-knock indemnification.

Session 4 – Avoiding the “Land Mines” of Licensing If you’re working on a deal for a licensor — or you’re working on a deal for a licensee and want to know what provisions your licensor may ask you for — this fast-paced, one-hour session will share key provisions that you may not have included in your most important deals. Like the previous sessions in this great Mechanics of a License series from the Licensing Executives Society, this session will include specific clauses from real-world licensing documents that you can use in your own deals.

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  Due Diligence

Due Diligence is the research conducted prior to engaging in a business transaction. This course will provide guidance on how to develop and implement a due diligence strategy for a deal involving intellectual property (IP). It will discuss the What, When, Where, Who and How to perform due diligence depending on the deal and its importance to your organization.

Modules will cover aspects of technical due diligence (e.g., technical readiness), legal due diligence (e.g., ownership, remaining legal life of IP assets, freedom to operate), and Commercial and financial due diligence (e.g., market size, market growth, pricing).

Course Schedule

 

  Industry and Universities – How to Work Together Through Contracts

The interface between institutions doing this basic research and the industries that turn that research into commercial products can feel like a minefield. Both parties enter agreement negotiations with constraints that may not be apparent to the other. In this course we discuss many of those constraints, both legal and cultural. We will discuss types of collaborative agreements, highlighting terms that are difficult to negotiate, and ways to compromise to move the collaboration forward. The instructors, from research institutions and industry, will share perspectives and examples of how they were able to negotiate agreements that gave both sides a win.

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  Legal Ethics

Objectives:

    • Learn to spot ethical questions in IP transactions
    • Understand the role played by an attorney’s rules of professional conduct in connection with transactions
    • Understand the interplay between an attorney’s ethical obligations to clients and others during transactions and litigation

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  Negotiation Skills Practicum

Have you thought about the knowledge and skills needed to negotiate well? Consider learning from experts in this immersive and interactive opportunity. The guiding philosophy of the course is that situational awareness and understanding of people and negotiating room dynamics wins over reliance on tactics like ‘good cop, bad cop.’ Our goal is to help you build a foundation that will support the development of sound strategies and implementation of fact-driven actions.

Topics covered:

    • Principles of Negotiating
    • Interests vs. Positions
    • Elements of Power, Leverage and Personality
    • People Problems
    • Team Structure
    • Negotiating Tactics
    • Dealing with Uncertainty
    • Positive Roadmap to Negotiating

Memorizing a list of strategies or techniques in unlikely to help you become a master negotiator. This course will help you develop the knowledge and skills required to maintain a level of control during the negotiating process. It includes over 6 hours of Case Study & Mock Negotiation. You will choose a role with defined responsibilities and be on a team of at most 7 others to prepare a strategy to negotiate. You and your team will negotiate an important international agreement between two technology companies. At the end of the course you will receive a “Course on a Card” that covers negotiating room dynamics and is suitable to throw in your backpack for future reference.

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  CLP Exam Review Course

Having the Certified Licensing Professional (CLP) credential in intellectual property licensing and commercialization is a valuable career asset. A CLP designation:

    • Signifies your experience and qualifications to your clients, colleagues and potential employers;
    • Shows that you understand and use the latest industry practices; and
    • Demonstrates that you take your licensing career seriously.

The CLP Exam has been modified and reformatted. Are you planning on taking the CLP Exam this year? If so, prepare yourself with help from LES experts! LES is the leading association for intellectual capital management, technology, and business development professionals to achieve professional and personal success. Over 90% of those who take the LES CLP Exam Review Course pass the CLP exam!

During the course, our expert CLP-certified instructors will review and discuss:

    • Principles and concepts from each of the reconfigured five established domains tested on the CLP Exam; and 
    • Sample questions from the approved CLP Sample Exam.

After the course, you will have access to your CLP course instructors, where you can get answers to your specific questions from these LES experts.

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  Managing IP Value in Startups & Early-Stage Ventures: Leveraging IP for Funding, Growth and Exit

Target Audience: entrepreneurs, VC and corporate venture investors, legal advisors, inventors, transactions lawyers, licensing professionals, university tech transfer, and others involved in creating and commercializing IP in startups or in other corporate/academia early stage situations.

Description: IP Assets are the foundational building blocks of startups in today’s global economy, and understanding how to grow the value of these assets is critical to startup success.   This class was specifically designed to provide tools, models and practical advice on how to manage and grow the value of IP assets as strategic business assets in startups and other early stage ventures. As startups grow into Unicorns (pre-exit valuation of over $1 billion) faster than ever, it is critical to make sure they have the right IP foundation to support their value, enter new markets and achieve a successful exit.  Through a combination of class discussion, case studies, interactive group assignments and analysis of current events, we will explore topics including: 

    • The startup lifecycle and valuation: from funding to exit
    • The intersection of IP valuation and startup valuation
    • Creating an IP portfolio that is aligned with startup valuation growth
    • Using big data analytics and pricing databases in making IP decisions
    • Leveraging IP assets for funding, growth and exit
    • The investor’s perspective on IP value: Debt v. Equity Funding
    • IP valuation considerations in exit: Mergers & Acquisitions

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