What is the difference between licensing and cross-licensing? What factors do firms need to consider before entering into licensing agreements?

What will be an ideal response?

Under a licensing agreement, a company (the licensor) grants rights to intangible property to another company (the licensee) to use in a specified geographic area for a specified period. In exchange, the licensee ordinarily pays a royalty to the licensor. The rights may be exclusive (the licensor can give rights to no other company) or nonexclusive (it can give away rights). For industries in which technological changes are frequent and affect many products, companies in various countries often exchange technology rather than compete with each other on every product in every market. Such an arrangement is known as cross-licensing. Firms need to consider payments when involved in licensing. The amount and type of payment for licensing arrangements vary, as each contract is negotiated on its own merits. For instance, the value to the licensee will be greater if potential sales are high. Potential sales depend, in turn, on such factors as the geographic scope of the sales territory, the length of time the asset will have market value, and the market experience of using the asset elsewhere.