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The Licensing Game

Vigilante

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Mission accomplished. I can't go into to details as it is a publicly held company, but I just secured a multi year license deal with a household brand-name that gives me an overnight brand with immediate consumer perception. The easy part is over which is securing the brand. Now the hard work begins. Those in my inner circle will see the news releases within a few weeks.
 
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Vigilante

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Are there some ideas that can go both ways?

Example:(in an ideal world+if it's a concept that would sell etc)
I get the bright idea for a new twist on the old idea for a wrench.

I could use snap on branding for my wrench, but I have to manufacture and design and sell it to retailers and pay snap on a royalty.

I could rent my idea to snap on and let them do the work and I get a royalty.

Do I understand correctly?

with the Larry the cable guy button though I can't imagine that you could patent it as you don't own the IP so you would only be able to do it the way in this thread right? Or could you?

All accurate
 

Goldman snacks

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So I feel like I have the basics, I have a lot of free time atm so I am literally walking round retailers to looking for a product category to look into. I have one idea from my visit that I think could be potentially viable.

When I have an idea I think is clever, I google image search to see if it has already been done, this idea I have doesn't come up.

So now to see if I can get a patent right? There's tons of provisional patent websites, any recommendations? And will they tell me if there's already one for this idea? If not how do I find it?

I looked up patent search but you can only use two keywords and I feel like I can't describe my idea in two words.
 

LightHouse

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I still believe you need to be careful here. No one may be able to do what I do, but they could still create a competing business that may now bid on my branded keywords effectively driving up the costs and possibly losing sales.

Careful or just non-compliant altogether. As @Vigilante already said, it's none of his business. If I wanted a pool of hungry go getters to dick around in my arena I would have a progress thread. I've gone through several business's In my 9 years here, and I still do not have a progress thread.

I use personal trust. There are plenty of people on here that know what I do, and they are all people I have met. I applaud you guys for wanting to help the pack and put info out there like you do, it's really noble. It's just not for me.

And in that regard, especially for someone who has been on this forum for a while, but even for new folks... Asking what someone sells is just as ignorant and disrespectful as walking up to someone with a nice car and asking "what do you do?" ....As if that one word answer is going to put you on a rainbow fast track to billions and a kilo of coke overnight.
 
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TedM

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I still believe you need to be careful here. No one may be able to do what I do, but they could still create a competing business that may now bid on my branded keywords effectively driving up the costs and possibly losing sales.

Great points. Thanks.
 

KLaw

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Careful or just non-compliant altogether. As @Vigilante already said, it's none of his business. If I wanted a pool of hungry go getters to dick around in my arena I would have a progress thread. I've gone through several business's In my 9 years here, and I still do not have a progress thread.

I use personal trust. There are plenty of people on here that know what I do, and they are all people I have met. I applaud you guys for wanting to help the pack and put info out there like you do, it's really noble. It's just not for me.

And in that regard, especially for someone who has been on this forum for a while, but even for new folks... Asking what someone sells is just as ignorant and disrespectful as walking up to someone with a nice car and asking "what do you do?" ....As if that one word answer is going to put you on a rainbow fast track to billions and a kilo of coke overnight.
Lighthouse...it was a leading question. I don't really want to know your product. Just curious about the "protection" a license affords you. Sorry if that was offensive.
 
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Mac

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I've been thinking about this heavily lately. What are your guys thoughts on using Instagram influencers in a licensing deal? People that have social media clout in certain niches?

Great thread by the way.

EDIT: Nevermind, this was answered with Dan Bilzerian.
 
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Oph

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Hello Vigilante, I was very happy to read your thread. It's fascinating the amount of value you bring to us, sir.

I'm looking to be a licensor of ideas (from inventors to companies) and I have a few questions for you.

How did you get into licensing? What made you choose this road?
Would you recommend a way of starting out? Perhaps a main skill that I should learn first or a helpful resource?

Thank you!

Oph
 

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Felix. Start at the top.

If I wanted to get a hold of an executive at Staples, I might call or send a proposal to the president of Staples. NOT because I think he will be the guy (or gal) to help me, but he will always, 100% of the time, get me to the highest ranking executive at the company with direct oversight for my inquiry. If you start at the bottom, there are mechanisms in place to stop you, screen you, and refuse you. When you start at the top, not only are those same mechanisms not in place, but the doors open. "My name is Vigilante, and Mr. Big's office asked that I speak with you directly about an idea that we have to ..."

Publicly held companies are EASY, because simply looking at their stock listing will give you the names of their senior level executives, and corporate contact information. Private companies are somewhat harder to research. LinkedIn is another great avenue to research prospective contacts.

There are a couple of other good threads here on the topic of how to penetrate sales contacts. Search around a bit here in the forum and you will find some great pointers from a lot of posters here about how to get to the right person.


Very useful information, thanks
 
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Vigilante

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Hello Vigilante, I was very happy to read your thread. It's fascinating the amount of value you bring to us, sir.

I'm looking to be a licensor of ideas (from inventors to companies) and I have a few questions for you.

How did you get into licensing? What made you choose this road?
Would you recommend a way of starting out? Perhaps a main skill that I should learn first or a helpful resource?

Thank you!

Oph

I was a paid consultant for a large distributor that wanted a short cut into owning their own brand to sell into mass market retailers. I started by using other people's money.

One of the better license deals that has been done recently was the guy that licensed a dormant television brand and brought it back to life. He paid $50k total (not up front, but time phased) to get the branding rights to use a dormant consumer electronics brand. He then took "his" brand to a large retailer, and "rented" them the brand for a % of manufacturing costs. The retailer saw an opportunity to have an exclusive brand over night, and essentially did a sub-licensing deal with him where they paid him a % of the manufacturing costs. The retailer sourced the products, put the licensed brand on it, sold it, and warrantied it. In that extreme example, all the licensor did was sit back and collect a royalty check every single month.

That deal was one in a million, but an example of what you CAN do it you think outside the box.

Since I spoke on licensing at last year's summit meeting, I am aware of a few summit attendees that have put into practice what they learned at the summit and created an overnight brand.
 

G-Man

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The retailer saw an opportunity to have an exclusive brand over night,

You say this, and I realized basically nobody does truly branded private label in the packaged food space.

Methinks there is an opportunity here.
 
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Amazing thread Vigilante, this type of business is really quite exciting.

An interesting question that comes to mind: Do you tend to source products used in these types of licensing deals overseas, domestically, or either way depending on the product? In my mind domestic manufacturers may be easier to work with or have higher quality products but that could also result in a higher cost and less of a product selection. Maybe I'm making generalizations, who knows. Another upside to going domestic though is being able to circumvent the importation process which can be a pain in the a$$ and time consuming.
 
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Vigilante

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Amazing thread Vigilante, this type of business is really quite exciting.

An interesting question that comes to mind: Do you tend to source products used in these types of licensing deals overseas, domestically, or either way depending on the product? In my mind domestic manufacturers may be easier to work with or have higher quality products but that could also result in a higher cost and less of a product selection. Maybe I'm making generalizations, who knows. Another upside to going domestic though is being able to circumvent the importation process which can be a pain in the a$$ and time consuming.

What ever. Match a product to a brand.

We just did another one yesterday. Existing products domestically in the United States paired with a household brand name.

In this case, an existing brand gets a whole new product line. It will launch in 90 days.
 

Ronak

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I was a paid consultant for a large distributor that wanted a short cut into owning their own brand to sell into mass market retailers. I started by using other people's money.

One of the better license deals that has been done recently was the guy that licensed a dormant television brand and brought it back to life. He paid $50k total (not up front, but time phased) to get the branding rights to use a dormant consumer electronics brand. He then took "his" brand to a large retailer, and "rented" them the brand for a % of manufacturing costs. The retailer saw an opportunity to have an exclusive brand over night, and essentially did a sub-licensing deal with him where they paid him a % of the manufacturing costs. The retailer sourced the products, put the licensed brand on it, sold it, and warrantied it. In that extreme example, all the licensor did was sit back and collect a royalty check every single month.

That deal was one in a million, but an example of what you CAN do it you think outside the box.

Since I spoke on licensing at last year's summit meeting, I am aware of a few summit attendees that have put into practice what they learned at the summit and created an overnight brand.

1) Was it $50k TOTAL, as in, no ongoing royalties?

2) Did they put a sublicensing clause in the contract that allowed him to "flip" the deal?


Cool deal...
 

Vigilante

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1) Was it $50k TOTAL, as in, no ongoing royalties?

2) Did they put a sublicensing clause in the contract that allowed him to "flip" the deal?


Cool deal...

Yes. $50k ONLY. Crazy. It was a brand that was in moth balls, but still...

Not sure. I never saw the actual contracts, but know the players involved.

Akai, Polaroid, Advent, and Curtis Mathes all did licensed television manufacturing deals within a year of each other. Akai was for Sam's Club, Advent was Best Buy and some Circuit City, Polaroid was primarily Circuit City, and Curtis Mathes (this deal^) was sublicensed to KMart.

I personally did the Akai one. Lasted about 4 (blissful) years.
 
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KLaw

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Quick question. Let's say I developed a line of "skins" that could change the color of kitchen appliances (I didn't)....Is that something that be licensed? Thanks.
 

RNoles19

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In every category, and every store, a significant percentage of the "branded" items that you see are the result of overnight branding using licensing.

If you see a Harley Davidson product, other than a motorcycle itself, it is a licensed product. Someone paid their parent company a percentage to put the Harley logo on a tee shirt. A coffee mug. A cigarette lighter. A deck of cards. A baseball cap. ANYTHING you see with the Harley Davidson logo on it that is not a motorcycle... is a license paid to the parent company for use of the logo.

Susan G. Komen. You see it everywhere, with their iconic white ribbon promoting Breast Cancer Awareness on everything from jewelry to apparel, batteries, clothing, anything. Everywhere you see the Susan G. Komen logo or the pink packaging with a white ribbon or pink ribbon logo, that's a license deal.

Barbie. Nickelodeon. 100% of ALL Nascar products ever made. NFL. NBA. MLB products. Collegiate products for all Universities. Kids toys from Marvel, Mattel, and others.

As someone mentioned, we did a deal with Larry the Cable Guy. He puts his name on EVERYTHING, from TV Dinners to soap-on-a-rope. Imagine using Larry the Cable Guy soap on a rope. Get-Er-Done.

Brand licensing can be complicated, like when we licensed the Samsung brand for categories Samsung doesn't participate in (very expensive).

Brand licensing can be very simple, like licensing The Millionaire Fastlane for a board game. (not available... it's just an example).

See a Ford keychain? License. See an ESPN set of poker chips? License. Weight watchers food? Some licensed. Ferrari parking only sign? Licensed. Bugs Bunny slippers? Licensed. Sesame Street kids soap? Licensed.

The bigger the brands (like Pokemon today) the more you pay. The more you target niche brands, personas, celebrities, or smaller prominent brands, the easier the licensing discussions. Remember you're creating FREE MONEY for them if you license Snoop Dog's image and put it on a beach towel.

See your favorite NFL team on a cooler? License. WWE action figures? License.
The Price Is Right, Family Feud and Let's Make A Deal card games? All licensed.

Pierre Cardin cologne? License.

PGA Tour golf gloves? License.

Cinnabon oven pans? License.

All the Frozen kid's toy shit that is EVERYWHERE? All license.

We put the Akai logo on televisions. Samsung logo on CCTV/Security Systems. Susan Komen logo on everything. Daewoo logo on microwaves. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and NASCAR on a GPS. Emerson logo on all kinds of things.

See infomercials for flashlights with logos like Briggs and Stratton? License.

John Deere can cooler? License.

Motor Trend tool set? License.

Toby Keith restaurants? A form of a license.

Trump University? License.

Smiley squeeze ball? License.

Nintendo alarm clock? License.

Lamborghini sun glasses? License.

Polaroid brand televisions? License.

Jim Beam lamp? License.

My kid got a Talking Tom action figure from McDonalds the other day. License.

KISS (the band) bar-b-que apron. License.

Pepsi playing cards. License.

Budweiser bottle opener. License.

Girl Scout candy bars. License.

The list is endless. Probably a third of the consumer products you have in you homes in the United States are license. Ever have a Motorola phone? A Tommy Bahama furniture set? A kermit the frog tooth brush? Barbie band-aids? A Ford coffee mug? An Emerson microwave?

It's all around us, but as consumers, you don't care. You buy based on brand recognition, when in fact what is behind the products in a lot of cases is a company that used licensing... to create an OVERNIGHT BRAND.


First off, amazing post and thread @Vigilante . Can't believe it has been going on for 4 years.... So my question relates to selling licensed T-shirts. I started a T-shirt website on a whim last January. We primarily sold T-shirts either relating to sports or TV shows and pretty much avoided the whole "licensing" part of the equation altogether, mostly because we didn't know that we had to be licensed (They were original designs. Not blatantly selling official trademarked items). The "Ready, fire, aim" approach, if you will. Long story short, the website has done over 900K in sales in less than a year, but we also have received our fair share of Cease and Desist letters (no legal action) from organizations that I'm sure want their piece of the pie (the NCAA, NFL, Warner Brothers, you name it).

I've made the decision to shut the website down (I didn't think we were violating any intellectual property, but don't want to risk any legal action either). I'd love to turn the website into a "legitimate" website and get a licensing agreement to sell these shirts. If I wanted to make shirts based on a certain TV show, would I contact, say, "HBO" or "Warner Bros" and ask them if they would be interested in a licensing agreement?

I have obviously shown an ability to make sales, so I don't know why they would not be interested, if it is basically free money for them? Any advice would be appreciated on how to get started going forward. This whole post got my wheels spinning. Should I just try to contact a higher up at HBO/Warner Bros/wherever and pitch them? Is it really that simple?

(Also, I'm not sure if I really want to disclose that I've been making 900K in revenue, without a proper licensing agreement).

Any advice would be appreciated @Vigilante or any other forum members. Thanks fellas.
 

Vigilante

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First off, amazing post and thread @Vigilante . Can't believe it has been going on for 4 years.... So my question relates to selling licensed T-shirts. I started a T-shirt website on a whim last January. We primarily sold T-shirts either relating to sports or TV shows and pretty much avoided the whole "licensing" part of the equation altogether, mostly because we didn't know that we had to be licensed (They were original designs. Not blatantly selling official trademarked items). The "Ready, fire, aim" approach, if you will. Long story short, the website has done over 900K in sales in less than a year, but we also have received our fair share of Cease and Desist letters (no legal action) from organizations that I'm sure want their piece of the pie (the NCAA, NFL, Warner Brothers, you name it).

I've made the decision to shut the website down (I didn't think we were violating any intellectual property, but don't want to risk any legal action either). I'd love to turn the website into a "legitimate" website and get a licensing agreement to sell these shirts. If I wanted to make shirts based on a certain TV show, would I contact, say, "HBO" or "Warner Bros" and ask them if they would be interested in a licensing agreement?

I have obviously shown an ability to make sales, so I don't know why they would not be interested, if it is basically free money for them? Any advice would be appreciated on how to get started going forward. This whole post got my wheels spinning. Should I just try to contact a higher up at HBO/Warner Bros/wherever and pitch them? Is it really that simple?

(Also, I'm not sure if I really want to disclose that I've been making 900K in revenue, without a proper licensing agreement).

Any advice would be appreciated @Vigilante or any other forum members. Thanks fellas.

Congrats on your success. Regardless of how this turns out, you can parlay this success into a continuing venture in your next chapter.

100% of the mentioned "brands" would have an existing licensing program in place, most likely through license agents (outside licensing firms that oversee this process). You can easily find that information company by company through Google search. Their agents will be a pain in the a$$, expect high royalties (for tee shirts as high as 20% with high annual guarantees) and likely have existing, exclusive relationships in place. It is not an easy road specifically in the tee shirt arena.

You would never have to disclose your existing volume of their products in your pitch. You can talk about the overall revenue without being specific to their brand. However, understand that volume is a double edged sword in license discussions. The more you brag about the volume your company does, the more a potential partner thinks they can secure from you as a minimum guarantee.

I HATE tee shirts in this space, as the brands would not see it as "free revenue." Tee shirts are an expected merchandising component of brand success. If you put their logo on "soap on a rope" that is found revenue for them. Tee shirts are an expected commodity, and likely already accounted for in their licensing business plan. Most likely, they already have a tee shirt marketing strategy, license strategy, and distribution strategy.

One approach is to contact the attorneys that sent you the cease and desist, with a reply that sayd "we complied immediately and permanently with your request, but meanwhile we are interested in securing a license agreement that would allow us to..."

When Amazon set out to sell electronics, no mainstream brand wanted to sell them. So Amazon proceeded to source it all through the grey market, force the issue, and invite themselves to a seat with the manufacturers essentially by violating the manufacturers distribution strategy. Every cease and desist you have received is an invitation to engage the company directly in discussions. If they are accusing you of unlawful infringement, then they have opened the door as to what lawful licensing might look like. I do not advocate violating anyone's IP, but as long as they think you have... you now have a perfect opportunity (regardless if it was a week ago or a year ago) to respond with a "would you entertain a proposal from us to generate revenue for you via. an authorized license agreement?"

I generally prefer to do license deals with brands that are not used to licensing their brands, and don't have licensing agents.
 
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RNoles19

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Congrats on your success. Regardless of how this turns out, you can parlay this success into a continuing venture in your next chapter.

100% of the mentioned "brands" would have an existing licensing program in place, most likely through license agents (outside licensing firms that oversee this process). You can easily find that information company by company through Google search. Their agents will be a pain in the a$$, expect high royalties (for tee shirts as high as 20% with high annual guarantees) and likely have existing, exclusive relationships in place. It is not an easy road specifically in the tee shirt arena.

You would never have to disclose your existing volume of their products in your pitch. You can talk about the overall revenue without being specific to their brand. However, understand that volume is a double edged sword in license discussions. The more you brag about the volume your company does, the more a potential partner thinks they can secure from you as a minimum guarantee.

I HATE tee shirts in this space, as the brands would not see it as "free revenue." Tee shirts are an expected merchandising component of brand success. If you put their logo on "soap on a rope" that is found revenue for them. Tee shirts are an expected commodity, and likely already accounted for in their licensing business plan. Most likely, they already have a tee shirt marketing strategy, license strategy, and distribution strategy.

One approach is to contact the attorneys that sent you the cease and desist, with a reply that sayd "we complied immediately and permanently with your request, but meanwhile we are interested in securing a license agreement that would allow us to..."

When Amazon set out to sell electronics, no mainstream brand wanted to sell them. So Amazon proceeded to source it all through the grey market, force the issue, and invite themselves to a seat with the manufacturers essentially by violating the manufacturers distribution strategy. Every cease and desist you have received is an invitation to engage the company directly in discussions. If they are accusing you of unlawful infringement, then they have opened the door as to what lawful licensing might look like. I do not advocate violating anyone's IP, but as long as they think you have... you now have a perfect opportunity (regardless if it was a week ago or a year ago) to respond with a "would you entertain a proposal from us to generate revenue for you via. an authorized license agreement?"

I generally prefer to do license deals with brands that are not used to licensing their brands, and don't have licensing agents.

Appreciate the quick, well-thought out response @Vigilante . You, and this thread as a whole, continue to provide unbelievable value for a newb to the licensing game, like myself. All of above makes sense. I will try to respond point by point/paragraph by paragraph, so I can clarify some things. I'll try not to take up too much of your time.

1) I'm still trying to figure this out, so I apologize if this is a dumb question. So, as far as the 20% royalties goes....say I sold a million in revenue this year, they would keep 20% of that? Or I would owe them 200,000? Or do they keep 20% of what it would cost the manufacture to make the shirt? I thought I saw someone mention that last night on the forum. I'm a little confused on how all that works..... If I only had to give them 20% of the profits, then I would sign up for that in a heartbeat. Even 40% of the profits with no minimum guarantees would be a good deal, as far as I'm concerned.

2) As far as disclosing the revenue, mentioning the 900K in 2016 wasn't meant as a brag. I just thought that if I said that to them in an email, their ears would perk up because I have a proven track record of sales. What do they always say on Shark Tank when an entrepreneur keeps talking about their product? "Great. What are your sales", "Sales cure all", etc.. So that was my train of thought there..... Your advice does make a ton of sense though. If I disclosed that figure to them, they would probably want to increase the minimum guarantee.

3) As far as hating T-shirts goes, I kind of agree actually. There is such a low barrier to entry and copycat problem (or outright IP theft problem), that it is definitely tough. The whole "expected merchandising component" vs "found revenue" thought process does make a ton of sense. The only reason I think this would work is because the show that I had the most success with, doesn't appear to sell a ton of shirts. As far as I can tell, there is no website where they sell T-shirts for this show, so I would think a licensing agreement would benefit both parties. There is one website that does appear to be licensed, but their T-shirt selection definitely isn't overwhelming. In short, I think I could do better, and make them a ton of money in the process.

4) "Every cease and desist you have received is an invitation to engage the company directly in discussions. If they are accusing you of unlawful infringement, then they have opened the door as to what lawful licensing might look like"

Very interesting. I always thought about responding to these C+Ds to try and arrange a licensing agreement, but I was mostly (or extremely) scared to re-open that can of worms. My strategy with C+Ds has generally been to a) comply with them immediately, b) not respond to the email, and c) hope they go away, once I comply. That has worked to this point, so I've always been mildly terrified of responding to these lawyers' emails. But again, your point makes a ton of sense. I am going to respond to one of the Cease and + Desist letters today, inquire about a licensing agreement, and see how they respond. Can't hurt to ask I suppose (I hope)..... I'll keep you posted on that.

5) "Congrats on your success. Regardless of how this turns out, you can parlay this success into a continuing venture in your next chapter."

Lastly, this is my whole conundrum right now. Ever since I shut down the website a few months ago, I have racked my brain all day, every day about HOW I could "parlay" my past success and experience into a new business venture. Without a licensing agreement, I don't view T-shirts as a long-term viable option, so this is kind of my last hurrah in the T-Shirt game I think. The problem is: I don't know which direction to turn/how I can apply my knowledge and experience to new ventures.. (I'd like to avoid the whole "buy for a nickel in China, sell for a dime in the USA" business model that everyone seems to advocate) I'd love to get in a similar drop shipping type of business. I've had a few ideas for physical, manufactured products, but I just have no idea how to even get into that world, contacting suppliers, arranging dropshipping, etc.. I'm not asking you what I should with my life haha. I'm sure you get that enough. But any ideas on what other avenues I could go down using my previous experience in the T-shirt arena?

Again, I very much appreciate the previous response. Anything you can offer would be MUCH appreciated. Thanks again for this whole thread. It really helped to clarify the whole licensing business model and hopefully it is a catalyst to a new venture. I'll keep you guys posted if I get a response to that email.
 

RNoles19

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Just got the following response from the lawyer representing the company I was trying to obtain a license from:

"I forwarded your information to our licensing team, but they have advised that they are not interested in pursuing a license at this time."

Took a shot. Onto the next business venture.
 

Vigilante

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Just got the following response from the lawyer representing the company I was trying to obtain a license from:

"I forwarded your information to our licensing team, but they have advised that they are not interested in pursuing a license at this time."

Took a shot. Onto the next business venture.

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inputchip

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Hey @Vigilante, thanks for all the great info and examples. Licensing was something I always thought was a great business model, but never something I could do myself. Really gets me thinking about all the possibilities.

I have a potential idea for a software product (app+webapp) that I think could really take off given the right licensing agreement falls through. The problem is, if I take this idea to the company, what's stopping them from just taking the idea and doing it themselves? The company is large enough that they could take the idea and just do it in-house and eliminate the need to license to me -- securing all the profits for themselves.

Basically the idea is the user would design/create the product on the app then send it to Company X for production. Company X has the technology to make these, as they make similar products already. I would need the licensing agreement to advertise the app with this companies name on it. Perhaps this is more of a partnership than licensing?
 

Vigilante

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Hey @Vigilante, thanks for all the great info and examples. Licensing was something I always thought was a great business model, but never something I could do myself. Really gets me thinking about all the possibilities.

I have a potential idea for a software product (app+webapp) that I think could really take off given the right licensing agreement falls through. The problem is, if I take this idea to the company, what's stopping them from just taking the idea and doing it themselves? The company is large enough that they could take the idea and just do it in-house and eliminate the need to license to me -- securing all the profits for themselves.

Basically the idea is the user would design/create the product on the app then send it to Company X for production. Company X has the technology to make these, as they make similar products already. I would need the licensing agreement to advertise the app with this companies name on it. Perhaps this is more of a partnership than licensing?

More often than not, companies aren't in business to rip you off. Does it happen? Yes. Watch the movie Flash of Genius.

So here's where we sit.

1. You have an idea
2. You have a license concept
3. You have a potential partner who could finish this for you
4. You have zero revenue

Lets go to extreme worst case scenario. You get robbed and ripped off.

I would argue you are NO WORSE OFF than you are today.

Tremendous upside, and an infinitesimally small chance you get it stolen.

That's not a reason to not take action.

I've done 10 similar deals. 0 of 10 were stolen.

@Kak did one. Not stolen. @AllenCrawley did one. Not stolen.

I propose you have a greater risk of someone else coming up with the idea while you sit in analysis paralysis (fear) than you do of your fears manifesting.

I did a license agreement a little less than a year ago. Rather than stealing the idea from me, they are driving me further than I ever would have gone without them.

Pick your partners carefully, but take action.
 
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TedM

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Lets go to extreme worst case scenario. You get robbed and ripped off.

I would argue you are NO WORSE OFF than you are today.

Tremendous upside, and an infinitesimally small chance you get it stolen.

That's not a reason to not take action.

Sigh.... if only people really would believe this. I'm willing to bet that 90% of the ideas out there never see the light of day, because people are so busy protecting their fabulous gazillion-dollar IP from imaginary predators - all of whom are too busy to bother with your crappy idea :)
 

inputchip

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Sigh.... if only people really would believe this. I'm willing to bet that 90% of the ideas out there never see the light of day, because people are so busy protecting their fabulous gazillion-dollar IP from imaginary predators - all of whom are too busy to bother with your crappy idea :)

I agree, it really puts it in perspective when you think about it from an expected value position. Your million dollar idea is worth nothing without execution. The expected value of going through with your idea might yield a good chunk of money even if there is a chance someone will steal the idea. But what do you stand to lose? NOTHING.

I will take that bet everyday of the year.
 

Vigilante

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Sigh.... if only people really would believe this. I'm willing to bet that 90% of the ideas out there never see the light of day, because people are so busy protecting their fabulous gazillion-dollar IP from imaginary predators - all of whom are too busy to bother with your crappy idea :)

The fact is that everyone has ideas. You really flatter yourself when you consider the fact that everyone has ideas, but that yours is so brilliantly fabulous that devious schemers loom in the shadows just waiting to pounce on you.

Moreso, licensors just want you to go out and manufacture money for and with them. Large companies have more to lose than gain by stealing someone else's IP.

Again, it CAN happen. It usually doesn't.
 
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Vigilante

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On a related note, I watched the movie JOY this past week which was the story of the invention of the self-ringing mop, and the thieves that tried to steal the idea. :)
 

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Even if it does happen, it is just one company. There are hundreds of thousands others out there that probably have the same problem.
 

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