The work after a deal is signed

The agreement is signed, the first payment arrives, and everyone returns to making things. Six months later, a new contact asks whether the design can appear on another product. Someone remembers saying yes during a call. Someone else remembers a narrower discussion. Running a deal well means tying each of these small moments back to the permission both sides actually signed.

Make the agreement usable by the people doing the work

A contract in a folder gets forgotten. Write a one-page summary for the people handling production and accounts:

• what is licensed, where, in which formats and for how long
• what needs approval, and who gives it
• what is due, from whom, and by when
• the clause numbers for each point

Keep the summary next to the signed agreement and treat the agreement as the final word. If the two disagree, go back to the clause and ask the other side to confirm in writing.

Name one contact on each side for questions, and pick one place where agreed changes are recorded. A designer should not have to rebuild every production decision from scattered messages. A new employee should find the relevant approval without relying on the memory of someone who has left.

Follow the promises in both directions

A license puts duties on both sides. WIPO's licensing guidance lists, among others, the licensor supplying documentation and consulting time, quality standards the licensee must meet when making or distributing the licensed product, and regular audits to check the IP is used correctly. 1 So the job is not only checking that the other side pays. You may owe files, approvals, support or other agreed work. Put your own commitments on the same list as theirs.

If you hand over know-how or trade secrets, give access only to the few people who need it, and keep to the confidentiality clause. 1

Suppose a manufacturer cannot launch because the creator has not supplied a usable file. Or suppose the creator has delivered everything but is still waiting for a sample to approve. A dated record of what was sent and what is pending shows the real obstacle at once, and keeps an ordinary delay from turning into an argument about who cares more about the project.

Read statements while the period is still fresh

For a royalty deal, check each statement against the agreed calculation and reporting terms as soon as it arrives. WIPO's checklist for royalty agreements calls for defining exactly how royalties are calculated and reported, and for setting audit rights. 2 Find those clauses in your agreement and check:

1. The base matches the agreement: net sales, gross sales, revenue or a fixed amount per unit. 2
2. The rate is right, including any tier the sales volume has reached. 2
3. Any minimum payment the agreement sets has been paid. 2
4. The payment that arrived matches the statement.

File each statement with its payment. If a number is unclear, ask about that specific line now, while the records are easy for everyone to find. Following the money in a royalty deal walks through a statement in detail.

A surprisingly low payment is not proof of dishonesty. It may reflect returns, a delayed launch or a different reading of a deduction. Those explanations still need support. Ask a factual question such as "Which sales are included in this line?" rather than assuming that everything is fine or that the whole deal has been breached. If the answers do not add up and your agreement gives you audit rights, use them. 2

Treat a new use as a new conversation

A successful project creates possibilities the original plan did not cover. Compare any request for another territory, format or product with the grant already in place. If the licensee wants to bring in another company to make or sell the product, check whether the agreement allows sublicensing and whether it needs your approval. 1

If the request goes beyond the grant, agree its scope, price and timing, and how it relates to the earlier agreement. Then put it in a written amendment signed by both sides, following the agreement's own clause on amendments and notices. A "yes" on a call is not a change to the contract.

If the license covers a trademark protected through the Madrid System, you can record the license, and any later change to it, with WIPO using form MM13. Recording is optional, and some members (including Australia, Canada, China, India and Japan) give it no effect, so there you record the license directly with the national office. Do not send WIPO a copy of the agreement; the current fee is on the same page. 3

Put renewal and ending in the calendar now

WIPO lists the term, renewal and the grounds for termination (for example non-payment of royalties, insolvency or a change of control) as points every license should settle. 1 Its royalty checklist adds triggers for renegotiating the rate. 2 Find each of those clauses in your agreement and set a reminder well before every notice date, naming the clause and the person responsible for acting on it. Note what happens at the end: remaining stock, continuing access to files, and final payments. Keeping dates and obligations from slipping shows how to set this up.

Watch for the events that can end a deal early. If the licensee is sold, goes insolvent or stops paying, read the termination clause the same week. Before you send or answer a termination or non-renewal notice, have a lawyer who handles licensing agreements under the agreement's governing law read the clause and the notice; a notice sent late or the wrong way may not count.

These habits give the partnership a dependable memory and leave more attention for the work itself.