License Agreements in Insolvency

Abstract

This paper focuses on the fate of license agreements in insolvency of the licensor. Due to the impact of insolvencies on the economic development of a country and the particularity of license agreements in insolvency, many countries recently changed their applicable laws. This paper will give a survey on the handling of the issue in the United States of America and Japan as well as Germany, before moving on to New Zealand. In addition to that, the existing international guidelines and advices will be presented to discover the worldwide trend to the solution of the arising problems. Finally, the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches will be evaluated, before alternative possibilities to uphold the other party’s rights in insolvency will be discussed and a conclusion and future prospect will be delivered.