ISRAEL
August 01, 2017
The Israel Innovation Authority (the IIA) has published new directives which allow the licensing of IIA-funded technology outside of Israel. The IIA was set up in January 2017 to replace the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Israeli Ministry of Economics and to administer government grants, extended to Israeli companies under the Law for the Encouragement of Research and Development in Industry, launched in 1984.
Previously, the existing law only allowed complete transfer of ownership to foreign entities rather than licensing. This will allow Israeli companies to partially monetize their intellectual property, while still being eligible for further grants to further develop the same technological platform for other applications. All such transactions (licensing and sale) are subject to the prior approval of the IIA' s research committee and trigger repayment of the grants plus penalties calculated on the basis of various formulas. Whereas previously, payments to the IIA were due in one lump sum upon the transfer of ownership in the technology, the new directives allow for repayment pro rata to installments received from the licensee.
Also, the Israeli Patent Office recently announced some new guidelines relating, among others, to Uniformity of Invention, medical use claims, green applications and extensions of term to respond to office actions.