When to license?

Via Dennis Kennedy comes this article by Edward Perlman Integrating Business Goals And The Law In Licensing Deals.

One of the most important issues for "inventors" is how will they commercially exploit their discovery? Some (eg research scientists) are simply happy to publish and let someone else do the commercial application. Others will want a royalty while others want the profits (but will struggle to attract investors).

The point is that a conscious decision needs to be made. Once a discovery is published, intellectual property rights may have disappeared.