|
|
|
The Money Making Power of Licensing
March 2014 Issue
|
|
Welcome to the March issue of the Licensing 4 Profits newsletter.
How do you find a licensing partner to commercialize your IP? Most often, it's through word-of-mouth networking and research. Learn about five resources you can use to find potential licensing partners in this months Strategy Session article. Software licensing strategies include direct sales (e.g. end user licensing agreement) and strategic partnering (e.g. OEM distribution). In our next article, Leveraging IP: Licensing Software, we discuss three partnering licensing strategies and how to use those to commercialize a new software product.
The value of an IP is more than just a single intellectual property. Oftentimes, it includes other parts such as trademarks and patents, products and brands, or technology and know-how. Find out more in this month's Video Licensing Lesson: IP Value is the Sum of the Parts.
Check out our newest E-Course, Guerrilla Licensing: 7 No Cost and Low Cost Ways to Promote Your Licensing Opportunity. During this free email course, you'll learn about seven promotion strategies you can use to create money making licensing deals. Many license agreements involve a combination of one or more types of
intellectual property rights. In our next article, Key Terms & Conditions: Extent of Rights, we review some of the different ways of giving (granting) rights to one or more IP's in a licensing agreement.
Find out what two inventions that we can't do without and a classic doll have in common in This Month in IP History.
Take a look at our newest column, Is It IP? Each month, we'll take a quick look at something that you may not recognize as intellectual property.
We conclude with the question,"Can I license the direct response ads I create for clients so I can participate in their success?"
Enjoy!
|
|
Strategy Session: Finding A Licensing Partner
The first step is to identify and qualify your partners. This includes determining if your IP fits their product line, is right for their customers,and they have the capabilities to commercialize your IP (see Licensor Due Diligence).
The Internet is a great starting point for quick research. Start with general search terms, such as toys or medical devices, to find companies and their websites. You can dig down from there and start to qualify them.
On-line Directories, such as Hoovers and Thompson, offer databases with detailed information about a company, including operations, products, locations etc. Some of these are free and some paid. You can visit a local library and get access to most of these databases for free.
Trade Shows are one of the best and fastest ways to meet and make contact with potential partners. It's a great opportunity to see their products and talk to their sales reps. There are trade shows for just about any type of product, service or technology. Most of the trade shows provide websites, where you can find out what companies are exhibiting and learn more about the industry.
3rd Party Consultants and Agents can manage the whole process for a fee and or percentage. The biggest benefit to using one of these professionals is their expertise and contact database of potential licensing partners. Often times, they can speed up the licensing process because they will know which companies will be best suited for (and interested in) your IP (see Working with An Agent).
Networking is one of the best tools for making the right contacts. You'll find networking opportunities at local business events, industry conferences and trade shows. Meeting in person gives you an opportunity to learn about the company and their interest in licensing your IP.
Finding a licensing partner can be challenging. The key is to use a variety of these resources to identify and qualify potential partners. And keep in mind you don't have to restrict your search to your own back yard. Some of your best licensing opportunities could be in other countries around the world.
|
|
Leveraging IP: Licensing Software
Licensing software is one of the most common strategies for monetizing this type of IP. With licensing, the software developer (IP owner) generates revenue without giving up ownership rights. You can use licensing to tap into other partner resources, such as getting access to marketing and distribution channels, product support, market recognition, or to enhance the software with new technologies or products. Software licensing strategies include direct sales (e.g. end user licensing agreement) and strategic partnering (e.g. OEM distribution). In this article, we'll discuss three partnering licensing strategies - co-branding, manufacturing and sales, and non-competing markets.
A co-brand license is a strategy to raise awareness and generate sales. Licensing rights to co-package with a well-known software brand can create instant credibility by leveraging off the brands' name and market presence. Your software and brand would be displayed within the bundled software. You could also create special offers for their customers and gain traction into the marketplace. As a side note, it doesn't necessarily have to be a co-branding deal with another software brand. Google's latest version of its Android operating system will be named KitKat (yes, the candy bar). In return, Nestle gets the rights to sell chocolate bars featuring the Android mascot. A second way of using licensing is to access bigger markets. By licensing out rights to market and distribute your software, you can enter global markets that you would otherwise not be able to reach. For example, by licensing its disk operating system software ("MS-DOS") to IBM, Microsoft got the benefit of IBM's global sales, marketing, and distribution systems. A third way of licensing your software is in a non-competing field. This is a good strategy if you are not planning to exploit certain markets. For example, a developer of mainframe computer software with expertise only in mainframes could license a developer of software for personal computers. Choosing the right licensing strategy is key to successfully commercializing your software. Licensing for strategic partners can be one of the best ways of getting your software into the market faster and for less money than selling it yourself.
|
|
|
Feel free to pass this newsletter along to friends and associates. You can visit www.licensingcg.com to view other free reports and presentations. If you are interested in learning about our consulting services, please contact us at (646) 395-9572 or email [email protected].
Best regards,
Rand Brenner
President & CEO
Licensing Consulting Group
About Rand Brenner
Rand has licensed some of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters, including "Batman" and the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers", both of which generated billions of dollars in worldwide merchandise sales. His career included executive positions at Saban Entertainment and Warner Bros Consumer Products where he developed numerous licensing and promotional deals with Fortune 1000 companies.
Rand Brenner is the President & CEO of Licensing Consulting Group, a full service intellectual property management company. LCG provides IP management, strategy consulting, and property representation. For more information, please visit our website or send an email to [email protected].
|
|
|
Video Licensing Lesson
 | | IP Value is Sum of the Parts |
|
Join Our Mailing List!
Sign up for our newsletter and get the free Special Report: Finding Your Hidden IP Assets
|
Free E-Course: Guerrilla Licensing - 7 No Cost & Low Cost Ways to Promote Your IP
Learn about seven no-cost and low-cost strategies to promote your IP licensing opportunity and turn it into money making deals.
Here's a list of what you'll find out during this licensing e-course:
- How to use the "Sweetheart Deal" to get your first IP licensing partner
- How to create Your IP Opportunity "Buzz" using free PR
- How a big licensing partner could magnify your IP attraction factor
- How to build your licensing platform using social media
- Two ways to create an IP demo video that excites potential IP Partners
- How to let your customers sell your IP licensing opportunity
- How to make a big impression for a small budget at Trade shows
http://licensing4profits.com/guerrilla-licensing/
|
|
Key Terms & Conditions - Extent of Rights
Many license agreements involve a combination of one or more types of intellectual property rights. For example, a patent license often includes the right to make, use and sell a patented product. In the case of a copyright license it may include the right to reproduce, display, modify and distribute.
A license could also include the rights to more than one type of IP. For example, the right to use a trademark along with rights to make and sell a patented invention.
One thing to keep in mind when negotiating rights is to make sure you get all the necessary rights for an IP. For example, a new patented product may also require getting rights to the related know-how to make and deliver the product.
When preparing or reviewing a licensing agreement, it's always best to seek qualified legal advice before you sign anything.
|
Free Special Report: Licensing Trade Secrets
At the most basic level, a trade secret is simply information and knowledge. More specifically, it is often in the form of inventions, know-how, and show-how information that gives you a competitive advantage. Anything that takes time, money, or effort to develop and that you don't want your competitors to know about would be considered a trade secret.
Click here to download this free report.
|
This Month in IP History
- 1790 The first shoelaces were invented.
- 1876 Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent in for the telephone.
- 1910 Rose O'Neill's Kewpie doll was copyrighted.
Source:About.com
|
Featured Product: How To Turn Your Show-how and Know-how into Money Making IP
If you are a Consultant, Coach, Speaker, Author, or Trainer, you can transform your know-how into a "licensable" intellectual property, generate more money and reach thousands of customers you'd never achieve single handed. And that's how businesses go BIG!
http://licensing4profits.com/store/
|
Ask Rand Brenner
Q: Can I license the direct response ads I create for clients so I can participate in their success? A: Copy for direct response ads, whether its letters, commercials or websites, is intellectual property. The rights are secured under a copyright. If you have created direct response copy that sells a specific category of products or services, you could license it and get paid a royalty on sales. Rather than get paid once, you could license the use of your direct response copy in return for a fixed amount or a percentage of each sale. The benefit to your client is they only pay for results. The benefit to you is generating more revenue if the direct response ad does really well. Keep in mind that if you create a direct response ad under a "work for hire" agreement, the rights to the ad belong to the client, unless you mutually agree that you retain the rights to the ad. Got a question about licensing? Send an email to [email protected]. You'll get an answer to your question which will be included in a future issue of this newsletter.
|
Is It IP?Four teenage students are suing an anti-plagiarism website for the rights to their schoolwork, arguing that they were forced to turn over original work without compensation, the Christian Science Monitor reports. When their school adopted an anti-plagiarism service called Turnitin, students were required to submit essays to be stored and compared against millions of others in a database. Students say the service violates their intellectual property rights. Experts say expect to see a lot more cases involving indexing copying.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The information in this newsletter is presented by Licensing Consulting Group as a service to the subscribers. Although the author attempts to keep this information current and accurate, he makes no warranty or guarantee that it is correct, complete or up-to-date. This newsletter may contain links or be linked to other web sites not maintained by Licensing Consulting Group. The author makes no representations, express or implied, with respect to the materials and information provided on any third-party web site linked to this newsletter, including any representations as to the accuracy, timeliness, reliability or completeness of any material or information on such linked site. Inclusion of a link in this newsletter to another web site does not imply recommendation, approval or endorsement by the author of the linked site.
|
|
|
