The Commercial Agreement defines what each party to the Agreement has to do and what benefits they will get from the Agreement. This page describes why the Agreement is necessary and the Key Terms define the main features of the Agreement.
Acting in Good Faith
It is important to recognize that if you enter into agreements with commercial organizations you will have important obligations to fulfil in return for any rewards that you might receive. If we are to act on your behalf we need to be able to assure the people that we talk to that we can deliver on our promises on your behalf. Before any commercial agreement is finally signed all parties are likely to have invested considerable time and effort in the process. It can take many months. This can be quite stressful, especially if you are not used to commercial negotiation. It can all seem very difficult and frustrating.
Alternative Approaches
It can also be the case that after negotiations start you get approached by others who may make alternative offers or suggestions for alternative courses of action. In such circumstances it can lead to conflict if all the parties are not acting in good faith. Whilst you should always consider any serious and valuable offers it is usually necessary for good faith negotiations to succeed for all parties to commit in principle quite a long time before the final documents are signed and our Agreement reinforces this. Anyone who makes promises of easy terms or unusually attractive financial benefits is unlikely to be acting in good faith and ultimately there may be a catch.
Legal Basis of the Agreement
We are frequently asked to soften or change the terms of our Agreements because they set out the inventor’s obligations very clearly. We will always endeavour to explain the reasons for them, but they have been based on sound legal advice and we will be very reluctant to change them. It is better to be precise about obligations rather than be vague and have an Agreement that could be challenged later. Agreements with third-parties are likely to contain similarly formal terms and we believe that it is better to get them clear at the outset rather than come as a last minute surprise.
Managing Risk
All negotiations or commercial agreements carry a degree of risk for all parties. The Inventor wants to be sure that they are getting properly rewarded and the purchaser of the idea wants to make sure that they really do have all the information and support from the Inventor. We want to make sure that all the work that we put in is also rewarded. The hardest decision that the Inventor has to make is to give up the rights in their idea and this can be very tough to do. It’s important to understand that being rewarded almost inevitably means giving up control.
To read the key terms of the agreement please click here >>>>
