Resources for Drafting IP License Agreements

Transactional Precedents

Bloomberg Law's Transactional Precedent database contains actual contracts that are signed by public companies and filed in the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). Bloomberg Law pulls the contracts from the SEC's EDGAR database.

 

For more information on searching the Transactional Precedent database, please watch Bloomberg Law's video tutorial at https://vimeo.com/458229584 

How to Access Transactional Precedents

From the landing page, select “Transactional Precedents” under “Popular Links” (also available via “Transactional” -> “Precedent Search”).

This screenshot shows the Bloomberg Law landing page. You may click on the Transactional Precedents link in the Popular Links section. You may also click on the Transactional tab and click on Transactional Precedents.

Searching Transactional Precedent

The search page for Transactional Precedents offers various fields you can use to define your search. Some of the available fields are:

  • Keywords (click on the "?" icon to see the Boolean terms and connectors)
  • Document Types
    • ​Select "License, Use & Royalty Agreements"
  • Result Type
    • Whole Documents vs. Single Clauses
      • Select "Single Clauses" if you are looking for a particular clause such as an arbitration clause

Caveats

  • "SIC Industry"
    • This field is based on an outdated classification of industries. Don't use this unless you are familiar with how industries were classified in the past. (For example, Netflix is classified as a video rental company)
  • "Filing Date"
    • Date of SEC filing
    • NOT the date on which the contract was signed by the parties.