History, Formation and Structure of LES

LES is an association of 32 individual societies, each composed of individual members who are engaged in the profession of licensing and other aspects of transferring or profiting from intellectual property.

Membership is open to all individuals and students in the area of Licensing and Intellectual Property.

The LES family is business-oriented for the most part, and its nearly 11,000 individual members include management representatives from companies both large and small, scientists, engineers, academics, government officials, lawyers and patent attorneys.

When LES was founded in 1965 in the United States, its purpose was to establish licensing as a profession, enabling its members to meet, to learn from one another and to encourage high professional standards among the individuals engaged in licensing of intellectual property rights and the transfer of technology.

Following its founding, the LES family has grown into a world-wide organisation with national or regional societies in: Argentina, Australia/New Zealand, Austria, Benelux, Brazil, Britain/Ireland, China, Colombia/Ecuador, Czech Republic, Espana, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Scandinavia, South Africa, Switzerland, USA/Canada and Venezuela.