In This Issue

Return to LES Home

Are You an Experienced Licensing Professional? Become a CLP

President's Message:
 Global Excellence In Licensing And Acquisition Through Certification

Foundation Focus

What the Heck is Mentoring?

Annual Meeting Recap

Vancouver Local Chapter Plays Key Role In Meeting

2007 Deals of Distinction Awarded At Annual Meeting:

Traveler’s Guide: The Local Chapters

LES 2008 Spring Meeting & LESI Conference:
Licensing Without Borders

LES Calendar of Events

 

Are You an Experienced Licensing Professional? Become a CLP
Grandfathering period closes December 31, 2007

Allen Baum reveals the CLP program in Vancouver
Allen Baum reveals the CLP program in Vancouver		 Tom Picone
Tom Picone reinforces the message in
his acceptance speech.
CLP Workshops

CLP Workshops presented by Phil Barnett (top left), Mike Lee, Catherine Vorwald
and Peter Ross.

Licensing executives will now be able to earn credentials that validate their expertise and experience, signifying to employers, licensing partners and other professionals that they are a Certified Licensing Professional (CLP). This landmark program, the culmination of much planning, was officially launched at the LES (USA & Canada) Annual Meeting in Vancouver.

Initially, experienced licensing professionals will not have to take an exam to earn the CLP credential. This "grandfathering" provision takes into account existing experience and education and is available to professionals who apply for the CLP and pay a $495 fee by midnight U.S. Eastern Time, December 31, 2007. To qualify, the "grandfathering" candidates must (1) hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, (2) currently be employed in the licensing profession, (3) have at least five years of experience as a licensing professional, and (4) be able to document at least three of the following qualifications:

❑ Status of Senior Licensing Professional in an organization (company or university) that paid or received at least $10,000,000 pursuant to License Agreements in any year the candidate held this position.
❑ Lead negotiator of 10 or more executed License Agreements.
❑ Admitted at least once as an expert witness or arbiter on a Licensing matter by a court.
❑ Within the past 5 years, has been a speaker at a conference on a Licensing topic and/or has written articles/ books on Licensing at least 3 times.
❑ Signed an Intellectual Property Appraisal.
❑ Lead drafter of 10 or more executed License Agreements.

Confirmation by a Curriculum Vitae and at least three independent references as to each of the three qualifications is also required. The CV and references are required at the time of application. Applicants are also advised to inform their references of their intentions in advance.

"A New Deal" for Licensing Professionals
"This is a great ‘New Deal’ for our profession," says LES Past President Allen Baum, who officially announced the program on October 15 at the LES Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. "We conducted focus group interviews with members and thought leaders, and the overwhelming response was that members wanted a professional certification program to establish credentials and advance the profession. Several studies have shown a positive and significant return on investment for professional certification programs for both employers and professionals." To become a CLP, candidates must meet requirements in three areas:

  • Education – Bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited college or university.
  • Experience—At least three years of professional-level experience involving the development, use, transfer, marketing, and/or management of IP within the past eight years.
  • Knowledge—Pass the CLP examination.

Exam and Certification Procedures
In the coming months, LES will develop test questions and work with a third-party testing company to structure the program and exam to include objective testing criteria. The first exam is scheduled
for mid-2008 and will contain 150-200 multiple-choice questions on a variety of subject areas, including legal, intellectual asset management, valuation, negotiation and ethics, and licensing.

Regular applications, along with a fee of $995, will be accepted beginning on January 1, 2008. Plans are already underway to have a CLP exam study guide developed by March 2008.

An independent Board of Governors will oversee the CLP program, and LES has engaged an outside agency to administer the testing and record keeping. Professionals earning the CLP credential will be required to recertify every three years by accumulating 60 credits that can be earned by attending IP licensing-related meetings, publishing articles, presenting at IP seminars and conferences, and paying a recertification fee.

Audience at the CLP (Certified Licensing Professional) Workshop.
Audience at the CLP (Certified Licensing Professional) Workshop.

"The CLP program is still in its developmental stages, so minor adjustments will be made as we finalize requirements and processes," explains 2007-08 LES President Tom Picone. "I want to emphasize that the CLP is designed to serve the entire licensing profession, not just LES. Although LES programs and materials will prove useful in studying for the exam and meeting recertification requirements, there is no requirement that candidates use these programs."

Past-President Allen Baum opened the recent LES Annual Meeting with the CLP program announcement. Members of the CLP Development Team then held two workshop sessions regarding the program and answered questions from attendees. Team members indicated that the comments gathered are already proving useful in finalizing program details. To find out more about the CLP program or to complete the grandfathering application online, go to www.lesclp.org.

LES would like to thank the following people responsible for the CLP initiative:
Philip Barnett
Bill Fields
Vicki Hancock
Michael Lee
Gwen Melincoff
Ernie Posner
Peter Ross
Catherine Vorwald
Copyright© 2007 Licensing Executives Society (U.S.A. and Canada), Inc.