Instytucja licencji w procesach produkcyjnych. Próba definicji ogólnej i jej zwięzła charakterystyka

Abstract

Although the term "licence” is deeply inrooted in the Polish language (among others owing to the publicity it received in the mass media in the seventies and early eighties), it appears to be rather difficult to specify the semantic scope of this concept. That is largely due to the fact that the international technology transfer, with licence operations being a part of it, is a relativel y novel phenomenon, which accounts for absence of commonly recognized legal norms or customs in this field. Censequently, the same contract, when evaluated from the viewpoint of different legislations, may be considered a licence in one case and not as a licence in the other one. This involves obvious economic consequences, which creates an even bigger need for investigations in this field. The present article constitutes an attempt at bridging the existing gap. Proceeding from etymology and the most general meanings of the term licence", by means of consecutive approximations and on the basis of the literature of the subject, there has been const ructed a project of the definition of "licence" as an institution of transfer of product ion technologies. The further part of the article contains a wider discussion of particular components of the proposed definition taking into account both economic and legal aspects.