Attitudes to licensing out of technology in the
USA electronics industry were profoundly affected
by the consent agreements of the 1950s which AT&T
and some other companies were made subject to
(Tilton, 1971.). Some provisions of these remain but
by and large the patents have now expired. However,
the attitudes engendered live on. Perhaps the main
one of these is the idea of making licenses freely
available, sometimes in return for cross-licenses. For
example, one major US manufacturer involved in the
past in such agreements and active in Japan, practises
an AOpen Licensing PolicyB in its core business
area. Such licensing deals involve cross-licenses to
all technology developed by either party during a set
period with balancing payments being made to cover
any shortfall in the value of technology licensed by
one side or the other.