• Licensing is about choices, and it can be argued that no choice is more important than the field of use granted in a license.

• Field of use restrictions limit the use of a patent to a certain industry, or even a specific product.

• With field-of-use licensing, the licensor gains greater control while maximizing the use and value of the technology.

• Even if a licensor envisions only one possible field of use for an invention, it makes sense to specifically limit a licensee to just that field. This is because technology changes so rapidly that a new use for the invention has a very good chance of developing later during the life of the patent.

• By limiting licensees to a particular field, a licensor retains the ability to work with the best possible licensee(s) for a new use when it arises.

• The scope of the license could be limited by a general field of use or a very specific field of use and the licensor has freedom to work with other companies on other uses.