License

a contract in which the owner of the patent grants another person or company permission to make, use, or sell the patented invention. Licenses may be exclusive (if a single manufacturer is licensed to develop the invention) or nonexclusive (if multiple manufacturers are licensed to develop it). Licenses can extend for the entire length of the patent or for shorter periods of time.

Any conveyance of a right under a patent that is not an assignment (transfer of ownership).

A right to use an invention as well as the instrument which grants that right. It allows the licensee to do things without which license would constitute infringement on the part of the licensee.

An authority granted by the United States to do a particular act or series of acts upon public lands without the licensee possessing any estate or interest in the land itself.