The licensing of (industrial) property rights and secret know-how is a form of granting rights to third parties. It is much more flexible than a transfer of rights.

The rights holder can exploit their property rights by charging the licensee a licensing fee in return for rights granted (exploitation licence). 
Licensing agreements are often also used for cross-licensing, whereby several parties license the use of their respective intellectual property rights (or know-how) to each other. This saves on research and development costs and safeguards the market position.