the pool may be held by the licensee who may be a third party or an association of licensors or an independent entity as illustrated by the unit aid example in box below for instance the holders of different pharmaceutical patents may create among themselves a pool of those patents needed for the production of a new drug or they may license the patent pool to a generic producer who would be able to use all the protected materials against the payment of license fees depending on the way they are administered and their purpose patent pools may have procompetitive but also anticompetitive effects