LEGAL:
The Growing Importance
of Morals Clauses
PAGE 2
MARKETING:
Webinar Wrap: What You
Need To Know About Mexico
PAGE 3
TRENDS:
How 3d Printing Works
PAGE 4
DEALS:
Who’s doing what
with whom
PAGE 6
CALENDAR:
Shows, Conferences
and Meetings
PAGE 8
INSIDELICENSING
OCTOBER 6, 2014
As 3D Printing Trickles Into Consumer Market,
IP Owners Dip Their Toes In The Water
As 3D printing trickles into the consumer market, companies in the licensing business are trying to get ahead of
the game -- to begin to understand how
the technology works, to try to project
how quickly it will become a meaningful
player in the licensing business, and to
figure out how they’re going to deal with
potential IP rights issues that undoubtedly will arise when consumers gain the
ability to “print” their own toys, collectibles and other goods.
Sesame Street and Uglydoll displays at the MakerBot retail store in New York’s SoHo neighborhood.
At least one entertainment industry
executive compares these early days
of 3D printing to the beginning of other
businesses that challenged traditional models of IP ownership, saying the
rights owners will have to learn how to
account for 3D printing
the same way “we had
to learn how to deal with
Café Press.
“The 3D printing evolution could be thought
of in a similar fashion,”
said this executive, “as
the power shifts more
and more to the fan/consumer. Nobody is going
to halt the trend; the challenge is to figure out how
to embrace, legitimize
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Licensing Is Global and Local, And Sometimes It Comes Out of Nowhere
“Think Global. Act Local.”
It’s a phrase that, by most accounts, dates back to the early ‘70s,
and is widely referred to in an array of
business, environmental and other applications.
This is an age when communicatins technology -- the Internet, e-Commerce, etc -- makes it imperative that
companies consider opportunities beyond their immediate vicinity, almost
from inception. But even as the global
nature of the licensing business is apparent, it’s important to remember that
www.licensing.org
many things start and take hold locally,
and that even global competitors needs
to be cognizant of individual competitive landscapes.
The global nature of the business is
brought into sharp focus when looking
at box office figures from several of the
recent months’ big theatrical film hits.
As this is written, for example, DreamWorks Animation’s How To Train Your
Dragon 2 has reaped 75% of its box
office revenue from outside the U.S.
That’s similar to the percentage of nonU.S. business done by Transformers:
Age of Extinction.
For Disney’s Frozen, the percentages are slightly less, according to the
most recent count we’ve seen. About
32% of that film’s global box office has
come from the U.S.; another 19% had
come from Japan, the second-largest
market for the film, as of mid-August.
What makes the “Frozen” story –
the business story -- so compelling is
that nobody really saw this coming.
That includes Disney. In region after region, as the film was rolled out globally,
Disney and its licensees have struggled
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Licensing Is Both Global And Local, And
Sometimes it Comes Out of Nowhere
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
– often unsuccessfully – to keep up with demand for product.
When I polled LIMA offices around the world, anecdotal comments on Frozen
were remarkably consistent. From Australia came word that “Disney have been
scrambling to get key Consumer Products partners to bring forward shipments of
most key category merchandise.”
From Hong Kong the report was that “at HK Disneyland…costumes were sold
out immediately when [cartons were] opened; the staff didn’t need to put them on
the rack. There wasn’t nearly enough merchandise when the movie was released.
Though we see more and more licensed merchandise recently in stores, there is
still a strong demand and many of the better items are out of stock.” Reports from
Europe and elsewhere told the same story.
So the Frozen experience is a reminder that even from the biggest global entertainment companies, there is room for surprises. It’s also an object lesson that
licensees and retailers need to keep an open mind about identifying the next big
“
The Frozen experience is a reminder
that even from the biggest companies,
there’s room for surprises. It’s also a
lesson that licensees and retailers need to
keep an open mind about identifying the
next big potential success.
”
potential success. One of the refreshing aspects of this business is that a lot of the
biggest hits initially flew into the marketplace at least a little bit under the radar.
But as much as the huge global entertainment properties tend to dominate discussion, a property owner or licensee disregards local competitors at their own peril.
A look at the first data from LIMA-commissioned research into kids’ favorite
brands/properties in 31 markets around the world (conducted as part of the Brand
Trends Research Project by Kidz Global), gives a great illustration that while kids
around the world are attracted to many of the same properties and brands, a raft
of local characters also play major roles. (In this research project, children were
asked unaided to identify their favorite brands/properties, eliciting a melange of entertainment, toy and food/restaurant brands. The youngest age groups were asked
through their parents.)
If you have a property aimed at 3-6-year-olds and looking at the Indian market,
for example, you have to keep in mind that you’re not just going to be concerned
with such global names as Spider-Man, Mickey Mouse and Tom & Jerry; the most
mentioned property in that age group in the survey in April was the locally-produced
Chhota Bheem. (It also scored highest among 7-9-year-olds.)
Looking at marketing a children’s property in Sweden? Make sure that you take
Bamse into account; it scored the highest recall for kids through age nine. For kids
through age six, the classic Pippi Longstocking also scores within the top five most
recalled characters and brands. •
For more information on the Kidz Global study, available free to all LIMA members, visit the LIMA website at www.licensing.org.
LEGAL
The Growing
Importance of
Morals
Clauses
By: Jed Ferdinand,
Ferdinand IP, LLC and 24 IP Law Group
We are living in the era of celebrities behaving badly. Whether
it’s entertainers, athletes or “celebutantes” engaging in acts of violence, sex or drugs, the news cycle
is filled with seemingly endless stories of celebrities gone wild.
The potential for criminal conduct or indecent behavior is an important issue for any licensing program based on a celebrity or other
prominent individual licensor-brand
owner. In the past, “morals clauses”
calling for the termination of the license for certain defined behavior
were rarely a concern. But times
have changed, and now, with the
advent of TMZ.com and 24-hour
cable news, celebrity behavior is
publicized like never before.
Why are morals clauses so important? Because an entire licensing and merchandising program
can be tarnished or perhaps even
irreparably damaged from a celebrity’s inappropriate conduct, which
could end up costing the manufacturer millions of dollars. As a result,
every celebrity license, endorsement or sponsorship agreement
should have a morals clause. The
questions become: what conduct is
considered a morals violation, what
is the penalty and when should the
licensee terminate?
There are many ways to structure the morals clause. The first is
the most manufacturer-friendly provision:
CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
WWW.LICENSING.ORG
OCTOBER 6, 2014
INSIDELICENSING 2
LEGAL
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2
The Growing Importance of Morals Clauses
“Celebrity agrees to conduct herself with due regard to public conventions and morals, and agrees that she
will not do or commit any act or thing
that materially degrades her in society
or brings her into public hatred or contempt, or that shocks public morals or
decency in her community or otherwise
substantially and materially devalues
the value of this license grant. Licensor’s violation of this paragraph shall
constitute a material breach of this
Agreement.”
This is a broad provision that would
seemingly cover any instance of violence, sex or drugs, whether it rises to
the level of a crime or not. Hence, a celebrity exposed in a sex-tape or found
to have committed an act of spousal
abuse would be in breach of contract
regardless of whether or he or she is
charged with a crime. Moreover, the
penalty for breach here could be both
termination of the agreement and a
claim for damages by the manufacturer
against the celebrity.
A middle-ground approach would
be to include language similar to the
clause above, but to require “a criminal
indictment or legal complaint filed with
a court for a felony involving moral turpitude” to declare a morals violation.
This would give an added level of protection to the celebrity, while still protecting the manufacturer.
Finally, the most celebrity-friendly
provision would be to require a criminal
conviction in order to declare a morals
violation. One example of such a clause
is:
“In the event that Celebrity is convicted of a felony crime of moral turpitude under federal or state laws which,
in the reasonable exercise of Licensee’s
good faith judgment, will bring Celebrity or the Licensed Marks or the Licensed Products into public disrepute,
contempt, scandal or ridicule, then Licensee shall have the right to terminate
this Agreement by written notice to Celebrity. With respect to the occurrences
described in the preceding sentence,
notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, Licensee’s sole
remedy shall be its right to exercise its
termination.”
This clause is favorable to the celebrity both because it requires a conviction in order to find a morals violation
and because it limits the remedy to termination of the agreement only, meaning that the manufacturer could not also
pursue a claim for damages against the
celebrity.
Beyond the legalities, the licensee
will have a difficult practical decision to
make in terms of when to terminate the
license for breach of the morals clause.
Having invested heavily in the licensing
program, this will surely prove to be a
difficult decision and one driven by the
overarching economic consideration of
whether or not the program can be salvaged. Has the program been merely
LIMA Webinar Wrap: What You
Need To Know About Licensing In
Mexico
Mexico, with a population of 120 million people, and annual sales of licensed goods estimated at $1.8 billion, is ripe
for industry growth, according to speakers on last week’s
LIMA webinar, “What You Need To Know About Licensing In
Mexico.” AS Javier Garza of Warner Bros. Consumer Products pointed out, the estimated retail sales of licensed goods
in Mexico translates into about about two percent of relevant
retail sales, compared to 4-5% in other markets.
But it’s also a market that property owners need to ap-
WWW.LICENSING.ORG
tarnished or has it been irreparably
damaged by the celebrity’s conduct?
A particularly heinous crime will surely
leave the licensee with no choice because retailers will likely look to return
licensed products and will stop all purchases. The more difficult decisions
will lie with the gray areas – should a
licensee terminate because of a DUI, a
sex tape or another type of immoral or
indecent act? This will depend on the
level of public scrutiny and the reactions of the retail buyers.
In the event of termination, the licensee will want to pursue a claim
against the celebrity-licensor to recoup
its investment in the program and may
also pursue a claim for lost profits. For
this reason, it is critical that the licensee-manufacturer preserve the right to
seek money damages from the celebrity-licensor in addition to its right to terminate the agreement.
As with all agreements, the scope
of the morals clause will depend on the
parties’ negotiation. •
Jed Ferdinand is the founding member
of Ferdinand IP, LLC with offices in New
York, California and Connecticut, and is
a member of the 24 IP Law Group, with
offices in Germany, France and the U.K.
Jed’s practice focuses on the protection
and exploitation of brands in the United
States and internationally. He can be
reached at:
[email protected]
proach with a large dose of pragmatism, given a major counterfeting and piracy problem, and a business culture built on
“informality.” Or, as Dalia Benbassat of Tycoon Enterprises put
it: “Formality [in licensing relationships] becomes especially
challenging when you are surrounded by informality.”
The webinar, conducted in cooperation with Promarca,
the local Mexican licensing group, included presentations by
Javier Garza of Warner Bros. Consumer Products; Eduardo
Figueroa of Mattel; Maca Rotter of Televisa Consumer Products, as well as Warner Bros.’ Garza and Tycoon’s Benbassat.
Market Realities
In addition to a facts-and-figures look at the Mexican
economic, retail and media landscapes, they offered a look
at licensing business realities, including the piracy and counCONTINUED ON PAGE 8
OCTOBER 6, 2014
INSIDELICENSING 3
As 3D Printing Trickles Into Consumer Market,
IP Owners Dip Their Toes In The Water
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
and derive revenue from it. Instead, then, of licensors fighting against fan-generated 3D printing in some misguided attempt to protect other licensed product and to
hold on to control, we’re all jumping in to give real licenses to the 3D printing companies, provide appropriate assets and differentiate the offering from other licensed
product in the marketplace.”
3D printer suppliers including Stratasys’ MakerBot and 3D Systems are offering
licensing agreements carrying royalty payments based on the number of file downloads and unit, industry executives say. But in a nascent 3D printing market where
total global sales are forecast to rise from a mere $75 million this year to $1.2 billion
in 2018, according to Jupiter Research, licensing agreements are being tailored to
include a product’s physical and digital components.
“There are a lot of considerations that need to be taken into account since it’s
a physical product, but also
has a digital component, so
there is a little bit of a learning curve as you enter this
realm,” said Jeff Chapp, senior licensing manager at
Sesame Workshop, which
already has a deal with makerBot.
Deal Narrows In Scope
With the emergence of
3D printing for licensed products, the deals being struck are initially narrow in scope as companies test out the
market, industry executives said.
Sesame has a licensing agreement with MakerBot for a handful of Sesame
Street characters that are being sold both as downloadable files for 3D printing individually ($1.29) and as a set ($4.99). The characters also are available as finished
collectibles that sell through MakerBot’s own three retail stores for $10 apiece. Five
Sesame Street characters are available so far including Mr. Snuffleupagus, Guy
Smiley, Two-Headed Monster, Honker and Yip-Yip. All can be printed using Makerbot’s Replicator 2 ($1,999) and Fifth Generation Replicator 2 machines ($2,899).
Toymaker/licensor Uglydoll as a similar pact with MakerBot that gives consumers access initially to four dolls including Wage Hits the Beach, Babo Delivers Treats,
Ice-Bat Takes Flight and Ox Sails High Seas.
Custom Collectibles
Some companies’ first involvement with 3D printing is coming via the customized collectibles business, in which the licensees themselves “print” versions of
characters with the scanned faces of consumers, and then ship them to the customers’ homes. For example, CBS Consumer Products signed a deal to use 3D Systems’ 3DplusMe service for custom Star Trek collectibles, a selection that includes
both the Star Trek characters in their original forms, and the ability to customize
them (for $70 apiece) to add the user’s image.
3DPlusMe also has separate licensing pacts with Major League Baseball,
videogame developer Ubisoft and Disney’s Marvel. Hasbro also partnered with
Shapeways on the SuperFanArt website for 3D printing based on the toymaker’s
IP, including My Little Pony, Transformers and Monopoly. Hasbro also has a shortterm deal with 3D Systems for customized collectibles ordered through a handful
of Walmart stores.
The arrival of 3D printing raises some issues feared by licensed brands includCONTINUED ON PAGE 5
WWW.LICENSING.ORG
OCTOBER 6, 2014
How It Works:
A Brief Look At
3D Printing
Technology
While 3D printing dates to 3D
Systems’ Founder Chuck Hull’s
inventing and patenting stereolithography in the mid-1980s, the
consumer market only took hold in
recent years as downloadable files
became available.
At the high end of the market,
3D printing is done using animation
modeling software that divides an
object into digital cross-sections,
enabling a printer to build an object
layer by layer. For the consumer
market, Shapeways, Sculpteo and
MakerBot’s Thingiverse have released downloadable pre-made designs.
Once a design has been selected, it is sent to the printer with
a standard file extension containing 3D polygons that are sliced
into thin slivers. The 3D product is
built by adding material in layers
that are fused together, a process
that in many cases takes two to six
hours to complete, depending on
the complexity of the design. In the
case of 3D Systems’ Cube 3 printer,
13-14 mid-size objects can be created from a single spool of filament.
The prices for filament range from
$48 to $130 per spool, the latter being for a glow-in-the-dark color.
The range of materials used to
print 3D products includes rubber,
plastics and polyurethane. Some
printers have a plastic filament roll
spooled at the back.
The printers themselves vary
widely in price. The entry-level
model from 3D Systems – the Cube
3 – is priced at $999 for a device
that allows for dual color operation.
MakerBot’s line starts at $1,399 for
the Mini printer that allows for the
building of products up to 4.9 inches in height with 200-micron layer
resolution and ranges up to Z18
($6,499) that features 100 micron
layer resolution and 18-inch figures.
INSIDELICENSING 4
3D Printing
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
ing counterfeiting, copyright violations
and trademark infringements, said
Beanstalk CEO Michael Stone. But
while it represents an unchartered legal
and retail distribution area for licensed
goods, companies should embrace
the technology, Stone says. In terms of
more tightly connecting licensed goods
to consumers, “this is as close as it
gets.”
With consumers gaining the ability
to print products at home, companies
with licensing businesses “had better
start addressing” the issues of 3D printing “sooner rather than later so they can
make money later on,” Stone said. “As
these printers become more affordable”
within three to five years “there will come
a time when consumers can make their
own products. Look what happened to
the music industry with the sharing of
music. That was the end of the CD business.”
Yet 3D printing of products longer
term raises the specter of cutting into
licensed product sales through brick
and mortar stores, as consumers print
what they previously bought at retail,
industry executives say. While sales of
3D printed products currently are a miniscule part of the licensed goods business, there’s general agreement that,
longer term, suppliers will likely run into
overlap with their retail business.
Sesame launched 3D printed product with lesser known characters, but
will add some well-known collectibles
by year-end, Chapp said. Uglydoll has
sought to separate its plastic printed
3D figures from those sold at retail by
In addition to its own store in Soho (seen on previous page), MakerBot has pilot displays in a dozen
Home Depot stores to explain the tecnology and its possibilities.
materials being used. Uglydoll licensee
Funko used vinyl materials in manufacturing Uglydoll characters for retail, Uglydoll Licensing Director Teresa Fazio
said.
“Right now there are separate channels of distribution because those consumers that might go into a retail store to
buy a manufactured product might not
be the same ones that have the technology in their homes” to print the products,
said Chapp in noting 3D printing’s initial
appeal to collectors. 3D printing cutting into retail business isn’t “a concern
right now, but four to five years down the
road, who knows what is going to happen.”
MakerBot and 3D Systems have
so far addressed many of the licensing
issues that have crept up as 3D printing enters the market. But “it will be interesting to see how it changes as the
prices for printers” drop and they move
into the mass market, Stone said.
The manufacturing of licensed
products also will likely change, industry executives said. •
CONTACT INFO:
Beanstalk, Michael Stone, CEO
212-421-6060, michael.stone@
beanstalk.com
Sesame Workshop, Jeff Chapp,
Senior Licensing Mgr., 212-875-6531,
[email protected]
MakerBot, Tom James, VP Business
Development, 347-334-6800, Thomas.
[email protected]
Uglydoll, Teresa Fazio, Licensing
Director, 732-589-9521, teresa@
uglydoll.com
NEWS
SHORTS: Disney, Smartwatches, TRU/Claire’s
The Disney Princess fashion doll
license generated $400-$500 million in
annual revenue for Mattel, accounting
for 6-8 percent of the toymaker’s annual
revenue, B. Riley & Co. said in a research
note to clients. Hasbro last month signed
an agreement with Disney to develop
dolls starting in 2016 based on Disney
Princess stories and characters including Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast and
WWW.LICENSING.ORG
Little Mermaid. Frozen also was included
in the agreement.
Smartwatch supplier Pebble Technology is entering the licensing business, having signed a pact with Big Tent
Entertainment to bring Domo to watch
faces. The watch will allow consumers
to use motions to activate animations.
Meanwhile, Big Tent also signed a cobranding pact with NFL Players Inc.
OCTOBER 6, 2014
that will bring Domo and the names and
likenesses of NFL players to plush, novelty items, bags, hats and other products.
Toys R Us plans to expand the number of Claire’s in-store shops across
Europe to 100 by year-end as it opens
the first U.S. locations through October,
a company spokeswoman said. Toys R
CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
INSIDELICENSING 5
RECENT DEALS
PROPERTY
LICENSED BY
LICENSED TO
LICENSED FOR
CONTACTS
Biggest Loser
Universal Partnerships & Licensing
Garmin
Fitness Devices (U.S.)
Cindy Chang, Universal, 818-777-2067,
cindy.chang@nbcuni.
com
Dinosaur Train
The Jim Henson Co.
Kosmos
Travel Games (Eur.)
Panini Verlags
Magazines (Eur.)
Klaus Herding
Housewares (Eur.)
Jim Henson Co.,
Richard Goldsmith,
323-802-1500, [email protected];
Panini Verlags, Gabriele El Hag, 49+ 711
94768 819,gelhag@
panini.de; Klaus Herding, Susanne Litzel,
+49 2871 284 3000,
[email protected]
Kellogg’s
Kellogg
Dophes
Home textiles (U.S.)
Agent: The Joester
Loria Group, James
Slifer, 212-683-8548,
[email protected];
Dophes, Joseph Aziz,
800-836-5037,
[email protected]
Lemmings
Sony Computer
Entertainment Europe
Bioworld
Adult and kids apparel
(EMEA, Australia)
Gaya
Plush, bags,
keychains (EMEA,
Australia)
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe,
David Evans, +44 771
856 0433, [email protected]
Paladone
Mugs, refrigerator
magnets (EMEA,
Australia
Mr. Bean
Tiger Aspect
Productions
Cafe Press
T-shirts, mugs, notepads (U.S., Canada)
Tiger Aspect Productions, Katherine
Senior, +44 207 434
6700, [email protected];
CafePress,Ty Simpson,. 859-393-4805,
tsimpson@cafepress.
com
Nashville
ABC Studios
Opry Entertainment
Stickers, magnets,
shirts (U.S.)
Agent: Knockout
Licensing, Tamara
Knepfer, 212-9475958, [email protected]; Opry
Entertainment, Kim
O’Dell, kim.odell@
opry.com
Penguins of
Madagascar
Dreamworks
Animation
Disguise
Halloween Costumes
(U.S.)
Dreamworks Animation, Kimberly Deziel,
818-695-5000, [email protected]; Disguise,
Virginia Reneau,
[email protected],
310-456-7799
WWW.LICENSING.ORG
OCTOBER 6, 2014
INSIDELICENSING 6
RECENT DEALS
PROPERTY
LICENSED BY
LICENSED TO
LICENSED FOR
CONTACTS
PopCam
Mind Candy
Penguin Children’s
Books
Children’s Books
Mind Candy, Darren
Garnham, +44 207
501 1900, darran@
mindcandy.com; Penguin, Susan Bolsover,
+44 20 7010 3000,
susan.bolsover@
uk.penguingroup.com
Strawberry Shortcake
AG Properties
Tactic Games
Coloring and activity boos, games and
puzzles (Nordic)
Agent: Alicom Licensing, Roland Lindholm, +46 (0) 8702
2433, roland@alicom.
com: AG Properties,
Lindsay Martinez,
[email protected];
Tactic Games, Markku
Heljakka, +358 500
222 04, markku.
[email protected]
Tango
Britvic
Bon Bon Buddies
Snack foods (UK)
Agent: Ian Downes,
Start Licensing, Ian@
startlicensing.co.uk,
+44 0203 377 958
Bon Bon Buddies,
Emily Howarth, +44 0
1495 241 600
Veggie Tales
Dreamworks
Animation
Disguise
Halloween Costumes
(U.S.)
Dreamworks Animation, Kimberly Deziel,
818-695-5000, [email protected]; Disguise,
Virginia Reneau,
[email protected],
310-456-7799
University of Oxford
University of Oxford
Smith & Fellows
Wallcoverings
Agent: Performance
Brands, David Ball,
+44 207 730 9606,
[email protected]
NEWS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
Us and Claire’s launched
the format last year via a
pilot program in Europe,
and have since expanded it to Austria,
WWW.LICENSING.ORG
France, Germany, Spain and the UK
McFarlane Toys will unveil a new
brick building blocks set based on AMC
Network’s The Walking Dead at Comic
Con in New York this week. The blocks
are available exclusively this fall at Toys R
Us stores, the company says
Warner Brothers opened a popup Central Perks Café for a month-long
run in New York City promoting the 20th
anniversary of the debut of “Friends
series. The 1,800-square-foot store is
OCTOBER 6, 2014
serving free coffee, supplied by promotional partner Eight O’Clock Coffee, and
stocked with Friends-related products.
Penguin Young Readers Group
will launch the Cartoon Network imprint
in summer 2015, focusing on Mad Libs,
fiction novels and chapter books and activity and doodle formats. The books will
be based on Cartoon Networks’ Uncle
Grandpa, Steven Universe, Clarence and
We Bare Bears programs, with the Powerpuff Girls due in 2016.•
INSIDELICENSING 7
Calendar
Shows, Conferences & Meetings
New York Comic-Con
10/9 - 12
Javits Center, New York, NY
www.newyorkcomiccon.com/Home/
Brand Licensing India
10/11 - 12
Hall No. 12 Gate No. 7, Pragati
Maidan, New Delhi, India
www.licenseindia.com/brandlicensing-conference/
China Licensing Expo 2014
10/14 - 16
Shanghai New International Exhibition Center, Shanghai, China
www.tjpa-china.org/
LIMA Seminar in Toronto:
“How to Define & Reach
Your Audience in a Digital
Age”
10/21
Nelvana Enterprises
25 Dockside Drive, Toronto
www.licensing.org/events
LIMA – Digital Hollywood
Evening Keynote
Roundtable
10/21
Ritz Carlton Hotel, Marina del Rey,
CA
www.digitalhollywood.com/
Dubai International Brand
Licensing Fair
10/27 - 28
The Dubai International Convention
& Exhibition Centre
http://licensingdubai.ae/
SEMA Show 2014
11/4 - 7
Las Vegas Convention Center,
Las Vegas, NV
www.semashow.com/the-sema-show
Licensing Market 2014
11/11
Hotel Bayerischer Hof, Munich,
Germany
www.licensing.org
LIMA Board of Directors
Michael Brown, American Greetings
Marilu Corpus, Click! Licensing Asia
Ciarán Coyle, Beanstalk
Paul Flett, United Talent Agency
Christian Fortmann, 24IP Law Group
Dell Furano, Epic Rights LLC
Darran Garnham, Mind Candy
Elias Hofman, Exim Licensing
Tim Kilpin, Mattel
Cindy Levitt, Hot Topic Inc.
Sara Nemerov
John Parham, Parham Santana
James Slifer, LIMA Vice Chair,
The Joster Loria Group
Henry Stupp, Cherokee Group Inc.
Rick Van Brimmer, LIMA Chairman,
The Ohio State U.
Peter Yoder, Cartoon Network Enterprises
LIMA East Coast
Representatives
Howard Fleischer, RoyaltyPros Licensing
Joan Grasso, Entertainment One
Marisa Marionakis, Cartoon Network Enterprises
James Stocker, FAB/Starpoint
LIMA West Coast
Representatives
Denise Carranza, Jerry Leigh of California
Stephanie Gonzalez, Mighty Fine
Pamela Harris, Firefly Brand Management
Kathryn Klingler, Creata USA
Mexico
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
terfeiting issue. It’s estimated that 60%
of the Mexican economy is of the “informal” nature where piracy is rife, and
that nearly a third of the Mexican workforce is involved. Eight-Eight percent of
consumers are said to take part in that
“informal” economy.
But the speakers offered some
guidelines for operating effectively in
Mexico, and grabbing a portion of a
growing market:
• Strike a balance between control and being able to adapt to a new
and changing market.
• Safeguarding brand integrity
must be balanced with adapting the approval process to meet the needs of the
market.
• Create practical agreements
and help licensees combat counterfeit
suppliers by ensuring there are consequences for any breach of the pacts.
WWW.LICENSING.ORG
• Protect brands through enforcement of trademarks and copyrights.
• Empower licensing agents or
representatives to handle legal, financial and creative services. Alert your
licensing network, hire a local law firm
and be ready to take action.
• Act more severely against companies that are infringing trademarks
and copyrights than you do in enforcing each contractual provision with your
own licensees. Discouraging companies with infringing products helps build
licensees’ credibility.
• Acknowledge cultural differences and streamline the licensing process
to provide answers more quickly and allow for shortcuts.
LIMA members can access the
complete audio and visual content of
the webinar for free on the LIMA website, www.licensing.org. All LIMA webinars are archived on the site. •
OCTOBER 6, 2014
LIMA General Counsel
Gregory J. Battersby, The Battersby Law Group LLP
LIMA Staff
Charles Riotto, President
Adam Berg, SVP, Membership &
New Business Development
Martin Brochstein, SVP, Industry Relations
& Information
Louise Q. Caron, SVP, Member Relations
Mary Verdegaal, Director of Operations
Christina Jordan, Director of Marketing
Leah Hunter, Director of Finance & Administration
Mark Seavy, Publications Editor
Courtney Halligan, Mktg & Project Coordinator
Tony Bugg, Managing Director, LIMA Australia
Tani Wong, Managing Director, LIMA China
Heike Winner, Managing Director, LIMA Germany
Kaori Taniguchi, General Manager, LIMA Japan
Kelvyn Gardner, Managing Director, LIMA UK
International Licensing Industry
Merchants Association
350 Fifth Avenue, Suite 4019
New York, NY 10118
212.244.1944
www.licensing.org
INSIDELICENSING 8