The Language of Licensing

Licensing intellectual property rights, e.g., patents, trademarks, copyrights, technology, know-how, software, merchandising properties, etc., is big business. It has been reported that the U.S. market alone was valued at $65.5 billion in 2023 in royalty revenues, up more than $20 billion since 2013, when it was $43.5 billion. It has been estimated that the global licensing market is almost three times larger, i.e., over $165 billion in licensing revenue income. Licensing International, the trade association for the merchandising and branding market, reported that global sales of branded licensed products were over $356 billion in 2023, with the entertainment/character section comprising more than 41% of that total. Licensing revenue income in 2023 in the U.S. market for merchandising licensing was approximately $10.6 billion, which constitutes about 17% of the total U.S. licensing revenue income.

While the general concept of licensing is seemingly straightforward, as with most things the devil is always in the details,. The successful licensing professionals and their clients have mastered these details, which is why they are generally successful in the field.

Licensing has developed a language and vocabulary of its own. While the industry pros generally understand the various terms and their meanings, they can be confusing and difficult for those entering the market. They can be challenging even to those experienced in the industry because the terms used in one market segment can differ from their meaning in other markets.

For example, what exactly does “cross-collaterialization” mean? Perhaps of the most commonly used terms in licensing is “Net Sales” which, unfortunately, means different things to different people. What complicates the problem is that it is the most important definition in all license agreements because it determines how much a licensee will pay in royalties.

With that in mind, Danny Simon and I conceived of a book that will serve as a desk reference for licensing professionals and those who aspire to become licensing professionals. The Language of Licensing is a single source of most of the relevant information needed to master the art of licensing. Endorsed by Licensing International, it provides a glossary of all licensing terms, their definitions and examples of how they are used in license agreements. As a bonus it also includes:

• Current industry data and the major players
• The leading licensing organizations, publications, events, agencies
• The laws impacting the licensing industry; and
• A collection of the most commonly used forms in a licensing program

It’ll be available on Amazon, your local bookstores and on the publisher’s website at www.kentpress.com.