The recent increased awareness of the importance to our economy of innovation and the development of new technologies has been coupled with the crafting of new legislation to increase the level of intellectual property protection available to innovators. Because one of the key methods of encouraging the efficient use of intellectual property is through licensing, it is crucial that our laws not unnecessarily discourage such licensing. Bills seeking to foster procompetitive licensing arrangements such as H.R. 557 and S. 438, as well as administration proposals such as those included in Title III of H.R. 1155 and S. 539, are intended to reassure American firms that the licensing of intellectual property will not receive hasty and harsh treatment under antitrust laws. H.R. 557 assures that only licensing arrangements proven to be anticompetitive will be held unlawful, while H.R. 1155 goes further to clarify and reform the doctrine of patent misuse and to clarify laws governing license challenges to patent validity. This legislation would strike a better balance between the rights of the patent owner and the rights of the licensee and give them greater freedom to negotiate terms that suit their needs, thus reducing the uncertainties that may now be deterring procompetitive licensing. (KM)