David Webber
Davies Collision Cave

It is somewhat simplistic to say that licensing as a form of technology transfer relies heavily on intellectual property rights. When the validity of those rights is brought into question, the value of those rights as a licensable proposition diminishes.At the present time in the United States and in Australia the patentability of certain types of software patents, in particular broadly claimed business method patents, is being questioned. Although the legal basis for software patents in Australia is different from the USA, if the Courts in each jurisdiction take a restrictive view of patent eligibility, there will be consequences for existing licences involving software patents and licensing activity generally.