Non-Assert Clause

A provision in a license agreement that terminates the license if the licensee brings an infringement suit against the licensor or certain of the licensor’s products, commonly those falling within the terms of the license. Such provisions are particularly common in the licenses granted by patent pools, because the licensor members of the pool, by the pool mechanism, would otherwise lose the ability to use the licensed patents defensively; i.e., in normal circumstances the licensor would have used the patents to secure a cross-license from an industry participant. Sometimes referred to colloquially as a “yank clause” (from the slang term “yanking” or pulling something out, usually using a rope.)

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