Licensing Attorney
The Use of Licensing Agreements
Precise licensing agreements are required in order to effectively exploit patents,
trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. Understanding the intricacies of licensing agreements is crucial if you wish to enter a business arena that is restricted because of intellectual property concerns or if you wish to increase your revenue by controlled sharing of your own intellectual property. It is vital that you have the help of a lawyer who has licensing expertise to ensure that these complex matters are addressed in a way to protect your rights and reduce your exposure to risk. In such matters, a small detail overlooked can cause significant future losses. Hence, the need for the guidance of a seasoned legal professional.
The legal team at Grimes LLC will take the time to consult with you regarding your business goals and priorities, and will be able to identify and address the terms that will be vital to your licensing situation. We will assist you with negotiations in order to reach a favorable agreement, and if appropriate, advise when the terms offered are not in your best interests. Our personal attention to drafting and reviewing such agreements allows you to avoid generic contracts which fail to encompass your actual needs and actually impair your efforts to reach your desired goals. Our experienced approach often saves you lengthy periods of fruitless negotiation and results in lasting and profitable licensing agreements.
Our firm can assist you in connection with the myriad of licensing issues:
This division of patent and licensing law has to do with the protection of television and movie properties. According to the Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA), character licensing is the largest area of business licensing in the United States.
This type of license refers to a license that is shared. For example, the owner of a trademarked property may grant permission to an additional licensee.
Licenses classified as entertainment refer to situations where third parties will use brands or individuals to represent or endorse another brand for the purpose of promotion.
This is closely related to entertainment licensing. For one, this can refer to granting permission for companies to manufacture products with the likeness of another individual or company on them. For example, Mattel™ could gain a celebrity license for a Barbie Doll to be modeled after a celebrity such as Jennifer Lopez.
Anyone who creates a new technology should gain a patent to hold the rights on that product. The person who holds the patent may choose to distribute that technology.
Software technology is a complicated field. Depending on the type of license that was obtained for a created software, the individual who owns those rights can make the rules to govern how their software is installed, used and maintained.
For toy companies, they often obtain licenses that will dictate where their product is allowed to be distributed and sold. Unauthorized selling of a toy is a form of royalty infringement.
Anything in the realm of athletics as it relates to copyrights and trademarks can be traced back to what type of sports licensing agreement there was. This can include things like selling products with a team logo on it and related issues.
Those who write books, novels and articles and want to get published will have to deal with publishing rights licensing. By doing so, they grant a publisher certain rights. An infringement of this type of licensing agreement can result in the exploitation of the author.
This form of licensing has to do with video games as a particular kind of product. Like other product patents, video game copyrights may become the subject of patent litigation.
Litigation to Protect Your Rights
With the exemplary profiles of our attorneys, you can rest assured your business is in good hands. Our firm edits the Licensing Journal and the IP Litigator. Our attorneys have authored more than twenty books on intellectual property and licensing matters. Our firm has negotiated and drafted thousands of license agreements in the product development, trademark, patent and merchandising fields. One of our members has been qualified on more than thirty occasions as an expert witness on licensing and valuation issues. Our firm is available to serve you in connection with any licensing needs you may have.