Yet nowadays, we see more and more vagueness and ambiguity in contract terms.  Whether due to the rush of lucrative business where time is of the essence to secure a deal, or lack of attentiveness, uncertainty in contract drafting creates a linguistic nightmare when searching for the initial intention of the parties. If a party finds it has been given extended rights based on the ambiguity of the license terms, they will insist that this was the parties intention all along. With the rapid influx of cross border licensing occurring, few words are universally understood to have a single meaning and that can lead to a once promising collaboration being frustrated.

The solution is to avoid ambiguous drafting by using clear and concise terms, especially when preparing the ‘Operating Language’ of the license.