What are Hot Markets?
 
Many industries use the term “Hot Market” such as Real Estate for a high demand housing area or investing for a stock market that is on the upswing.

What is Licensing?
Licensing is a simple concept that boils down to the right to use something owned or controlled by another person or entity. It is commonly used with intellectual property such as trademarks, patents, and copyrights. The owner of the IP becomes a licensor who may grant a license to the licensee that allows them to use, with defined restrictions, the IP. 
 
Everyone reading this post has some interaction with licensing, although you may not have realized it.  Ever been inside a Subway or McDonald’s? Franchising relies on licensing to grant permission to use logos, trademarks, and other intellectual property.  How about buying a Mickey Mouse tee shirt? Disney doesn’t produce that shirt themselves, they grant a license to a licensee who is permitted to use their IP.  Outside of brands, if you have installed software on your computer you are being granted a license by the developer to use their product.
 
For the purposes of this blog, we will focus on the brands, logos, and trademarks primarily.  Our focus is in Sports Licensing – NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and NCAA.  We will also touch on Entertainment Licensing such as Disney or Marvel.
 
 
Why License?
As we have learned, a license requires two parties to participate: a licensor and a licensee.  With any business transaction, there must be incentives for both parties to join in this agreement.  For the licensee, they look to license because the marketing power of the IP they are going to use – in retail, they are expecting they can sell more products with a license.  For the licensor, they are getting an additional source of income based upon the license agreement.

This is a test post for the new Labyrinth Sales blog.  Our blog will feature discussion regarding retail, e-commerce, manufacturing, and consulting with a focus on licensed sports products.