We investigate a sample of 180 technology licensing contracts closed by German chemical, pharmaceutical, and electrical engineering companies between 1880 and 1913. Our empirical results suggest that strategic behaviour seems to be relevant for the design of licensing contracts, whereas inventor...

Licensing contracts represent one of the most widely used mechanisms to exchange technologies and transfer know-how between firms. Due to the opportunities that licensing creates for firms operating on both sides of the markets for technology, it has increasingly become an integral part of...