The Governance of Contracts: Empirical Evidence on Technology Licensing Agreements

This paper provides new evidence on the contractual governance of technology licensing agreements. Using an international sample of licensing contracts, we explore how contracts are designed to deal with specific contractual risks. In particular, we comparatively assess the influences of transaction attributes, institutional frameworks, and strategic considerations on the creation of licenses. Empirical results reveal that contractual clauses for governance are crafted independently. This leads to a discussion of complementarities between contractual components, which are frequently assumed in theory. Furthermore, our results are certainly amongst the first to provide econometric evidence on the pervasive influence of private institutions on the trading of technology.