• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.191-210
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• 2017

The old sources of competitive edge and value added were land, labor, and capital. In today's knowledge-based economy in the 21st century, technology is attracting attention as a new engine of growth. That paradigm shift of world economy has resulted in the global spread of technology transfer and the gradual increase of trade of intangible goods including patents and know-how as well as tangible goods in international trade. An international license agreement is a representative form of technology transfer. In license agreements, the providers of technology keep their ownership of technology, allow the implementation of technology to the users of technology only for a certain period of time, and receive loyalty as a reward. Economic profit through such technology trade can be realized with the smooth implementation and termination of agreement. International license agreements are different from sales contracts, which represent international business transaction based on mutual obligation, in many aspects in that they target intangible goods of technology and aim for rent for a certain period of time. This study thus set out to examine issues that could be controversial in the main and individual obligation of the parties in international license agreements and provide implications helpful for the prevention of disputes in advance.