The licensing of intellectual property is often a key to success for many companies. Licensing occurs when a third-party desires to use your intellectual property on a product or service they are producing and pay you a royalty fee. The subject matter be licensed is usually protected by a trademark, copyright or other intellectual property law. Similarly, you may also desire to license the use of intellectual property from a third-party.
A simplistic example of licensing is Mickey Mouse. Many years ago the popularity of this character resulted in Mickey Mouse clothing, toys, and other products, none of which were made by Walt Disney, the owner of Mickey Mouse. Both the name and the likeness of Mickey Mouse are subject to trademark and copyright licensing.
Our firm represents both licensors and licensees, and is well-versed in the business and legal aspects important to both types of clients. With the current recession and the dramatic increase in the number of business failures, it has become increasingly important for intellectual property owners wishing to license their work to be fully-protected via licensing agreements in order to maximize the value of their intellectual property.
Our desire is to provide cost-effective trademark and copyright legal services that will help our clients prosper. Many of our trademark services, for example, are provided on a fixed-fee basis (subject to no unforeseen challenges). Other services are provided on fixed fee plus hourly fee basis. In most cases we have the flexibility to create a fee schedule to meet the needs of our clients, and we will always speak with our clients at the beginning of a matter to discuss fees.
At the Roe Law Firm, our attorneys have extensive experience preparing and negotiating licensing agreements for both trademark holders and those desiring to obtain the rights to trademarks. We also routinely review trademark licensing agreements and provide advice opinions regarding existing agreements.
The Roe Law Firm also has extensive experience preparing and negotiating licensing agreements for both copyright holders and those desiring to obtain the rights to copyrights. A few examples of these are, filmmakers desiring to use a particular song in their film, a symphony wishing to use a particular photograph in their magazine, an author who was contacted by a television network for permission to create a derivative work based on the author’s original work. We also routinely review copyright licensing agreements and provide advice opinions regarding existing agreements.