Thousands of breathalysers were made by various manufacturers under licence, increasingly compact and increasingly efficient.

ECONOMIST: Robert Borkenstein

Iran, which dreamt up the idea, has a big car market with several manufacturers building vehicles under licence from foreign firms such as Peugeot and Renault.

ECONOMIST: A stumbling manufacturer plans an ��Islamic�� car

The cost of developing new drugs, and the loss of income as cheaper foreign manufacturers have snapped up licence opportunities, has forced a huge cut-back in researchers.

BBC: Science of life in the economy

In a contractual masterstroke, Microsoft was allowed to licence the operating system to other manufacturers, spawning an industry of "IBM-compatible" personal computers which depended on Microsoft's operating system.

BBC: Bill Gates