These national societies represent some 50 countries. LES was founded in the United States in 1965 and in 1972, LES International was formed to provide the basis for an international association. LES International is the umbrella organization to which each of the national or regional societies belongs. LES International has no individual members. A Board of Delegates comprising representatives from each of the national and regional societies governs LES International.
Representation is proportional based on the number of members.
In addition, there is an Executive Committee made up of officers elected by the Board of Delegates on an annual basis. There are also some 25 committees some of which deal with internal and professional matters whilst others maintain external links with other organizations or are industry based. The membership of LES is multi-disciplinary and the Society has a policy that the membership of national and regional societies should be made up of not more than one half legal and intellectual property advisers and the remainder corporate, commercial, government people and academics. The objectives of LES International are set out in its Constitution. There are four main objectives and these are to establish intellectual property licensing as a profession, to educate members, to inform the public, business and government of the importance of technology transfer and to promote the establishment of new member societies.