4. What negotiated measures are available to you to deal with a troublesome patent?

When defensive measures are not possible, an alternative to offensive measures for dealing with a troublesome patent is to negotiate an agreement with the patent owner. This can help avoid the costs of cancellation or opposition proceedings, and maintain friendly relations with the patent owner.

However, to ensure that negotiations do not result in an agreement that is too much to the advantage of the owner of the troublesome patent, a certain balance must be struck between the partners to the agreement.

The agreement takes the form of a contract, which can contain whatever the partners want to put in it, and will depend very much on the particularities of the situation.

The cases discussed below are the most common forms of contract.