As someone with a rudimentary understanding of intellectual property and licensing, I found The New and Complete Business of Licensing to be a remarkably comprehensive and well-structured overview to these arenas. Danny and Greg do a great job of laying the groundwork, outlining the basics of protectable IP, the benefits and risks of licensing, and core categories of licensed properties.The book goes into detail about best practices from all vantage points – those of licensors, licensees, and agents that represent each party. These include developing a viable program as a licensor, maximizing the value of your property and protecting it from infringement, and building credibility as a licensee, among many other areas. Refreshingly, the materials included in the appendix provided me with tremendous benefit, particularly the form licensing proposals and agreements.

Need this!

Year upon year the best insider’s guide to licensing and other brand extensions!

Following the seminal handbook on licensing and merchandising, entitled Basics of Licensing, Greg Battersby, Danny Simon, and the team have followed up that highly successfully publication with a new must-have book. The Business of Licensing takes the subject matter of licensing and merchandising to a new level. It includes valuable insight by Greg, Danny, and other licensing professionals. An extensive history of the licensing industry, a concise overview of the current status, practical guidance, best practices, and reference materials, and much more reside in this essential comprehensive publication. This book and its assembled forms will surely enhance the practice of any licensing professional, whether a licensor, licensee, retailer or agent, and whether new to the industry or a veteran like me.

I’ve been in the business a long time but found this book to be extremely thorough and chock full of good information and reminders in this very intricate business of licensing! Don’t hesitate, a great book!

This essential guide is a must-read for anyone who wants to know how to or more about the licensing business. Even for licensing pros, this is a great read that will further your education. I highly recommend!

Pros: ‘Perspective/Wisdom’. The authors clearly know what they’re doing from years of experience and give you key take-aways from ‘both’ sides of the negotiation, shares pitfalls to avoid, etc.
-Actual licensing template examples. -Provides good/bad ranges for percentage and values
-If you do licensing and don’t have the years of experience under your belt yet, it’s a good reference book to turn to if you find yourself asking, ‘Have I considered everything’, or ‘Are we getting a good deal here’? (i.e. it’ll help you be more thorough).
Cons: -My only reason for not giving it 5 stars is that it focuses primarily on merchandising and very little on licensing utility patents (however, it’s still giving you most of the essential elements to consider)

I am an adjunct professor of various business law classes at Nova Southeastern University. The law school has asked me to design a workshop on Negotiating License Agreements for their IP concentration. Guess what book am I selecting for this course??? Thanks for making my job as a professor much easier!

“The Business of Licensing is a ‘must have’ for every person & company in the Licensing business. It provides answers with examples of how to deal with many situations that occur in day-to-day licensing activity. Also provided are most of the forms that any licensing executive will need to support their licensing needs. I especially enjoyed reading the comprehensive history of all areas of the Licensing Industry including sections on timelines and the pioneers who laid the foundation for the $280+ Billion Industry we enjoy today. I know of no other place where this has been so thoroughly and accurately documented. The Business of Licensing should be one of the fundamental cornerstones of every library of any office that deals with Merchandise Licensing.”

Battersby and Simon are two legends of the licensing industry. While Battersby is known as a prolific author on the legal side of licensing, this may be his best work yet because it combines all of the essential elements of the business and legal side of licensing into a single work. It is an indispensable resource tool both for people who are new to the licensing industry and for seasoned industry professionals. I teach a class on licensing at Fordham Law School in New York and I used this book as part of my course curriculum.

Written by two Licensing Industry Hall of Famers, THE BUSINESS OF LICENSING is a wonderfully written and thoughtful road map to creating, negotiating and managing successful licensing programs. My career in licensing would have been made much easier if Battersby and Simon wrote their book years ago!

Trademark Licensing is a very complex business; one that is very difficult to learn the nuances. Finally, there is a book out there that provides those new to the licensing business as well as industry veterans, with an in-depth and well-organized knowledge base to understand both the art and the science to the ever-evolving brand licensing business.

The book is absolutely AMAZING – seems to cover every single little thing. …been reviewing the International Licensing Agent section has got me thinking too…. act”

I was referred to one of Greg’s books on Licensing Agreements some 15 years ago. He is the Babe Ruth of Licensing, his legal reference hits it out of the park every inning.

Gregory Battersby is the best!! Blessed to know him!!! His books are a must!

Hi Danny, I recently received The New & Complete Business of Licensing book and thought I’d connect. I’m finding it a crucial reference, even for licensing veterans like myself. I’m finding out a lot about the “why” behind many of the clauses in contracts. Thanks to you and Greg for writing this!

The Business of Licensing is the only publication that delves quantitatively into the licensing scene worldwide. I always advise my licensing clients to visit countries and markets firsthand, but if they can’t, this book is the next best thing!

The content of the book is amazing! I believe I can learn a lot from this book.

Finally, a straight forward road map addressing all the critical stages and considerations involved with executing a successful licensing program. The book is an indispensable resource for anyone who wants to successfully navigate through the licensing industry.

This book addresses an industry need for relevant information and instruction in a manner that serves both the novice and the expert. The comprehensive collection of materials from such an impressive group of industry experts is unparalleled.