Popular knowledge of brand licensing
China’s brand licensing is becoming more and more popular in the country, and everyone is also aware of the powerful impact of licensing. Brand licensing, also known as brand licensing, refers to the brand The right holder licenses his legally protected property (such as a trademark or copyrighted name, logo, portrait, character, phrase or design) to the authorized party in the form of a contract for a certain period of time, and the authorized party shall follow the content specified in the contract. A method of engaging in business activities such as the design, production, and sales of branded products, and paying corresponding brand royalties to brand rights holders based on product sales.
Based on a contractual agreement between the copyright owner (or its agent) and the licensee (usually a manufacturer or retailer), the copyright owner grants the licensee permission to use the copyright under specific terms , usually should include the authorization purpose, region, channel, authorization time, etc. In exchange, the copyright owner receives royalties, usually a minimum deposit or royalties as a percentage of sales.
Authorized brands or copyright types
1. Characters License
Including the authorization of images and characters in entertainment programs, TV, and movies. The derivative products with cute images such as "HELLO KITTY", "Kung Fu Panda" and "Cappadocia" that we can see in the Chinese market are the result of the operation of "image licensing". In the entire brand licensing industry, "image "License" has a long history of development and currently accounts for nearly half of the industry's output value.
2. Corporate trademarks and brand licensing (Trademarks/Brands License)
This type of licensing is We usually think of brand authorization as the authorization of each enterprise or organization's own brand and trademark, which means that a well-known enterprise first registers a logo designed by the enterprise as a trademark, and then obtains legal protection in the place of registration and obtains a certain market after a long period of operation. After gaining influence, the company's trademarks are licensed in other non-main business areas. "Pepsi" home products and "Ferrari" clothing are all brand derivative products brought about by "corporate trademark and brand authorization". There are also a large number of them in the entire brand licensing industry, and they account for a large proportion.
3. Licensing of art and design works (Art License)
Licensing of photos, paintings, designs and other content. This includes the authorization of distinctive works of art created by well-known artists and other celebrities. The "Picasso" paintings, porcelain and daily necessities that can often be seen in the Chinese market have obtained "artwork authorization"
4. Sports License
Including the licensing of trademarks, content and images of sports events, sports clubs, championships, sports organizations and sports stars. Sports are always popular among people around the world. Activities. People develop their pursuit of individual sports and stars through sports. There are definitely many sports organizations and sports stars that are loved by a large number of people around the world. For example, the NBA is the most famous basketball league in the world. , has been authorized in China, including but not limited to clothing, socks, and digital electronic consumer products
5. Organization License Organization License:
Including museums, Authorization from galleries, tourist attractions, charitable groups, cities or regions. This type of authorization has not yet been fully developed in China, but it has become popular in well-known charities in the United States, including many in the world. Manuscripts, paintings and other artistic works, including self-created artworks by Hollywood stars Morgan Freeman, Nicole Kidman, a former German Prime Minister, etc. Celebrities carry out social charity activities by donating artistic creations, and charities use them as gifts. Through "authorization", its social influence and good social purpose not only spread the popularity of celebrities' artistic works to the consumer public, but also obtained donations. This "authorization" method has been widely respected in Europe and the United States.
6. Collegiate License
As the name suggests, it refers to licensing by well-known colleges and universities based on their brands.
In developed areas such as the United States and Europe, there are many world-famous schools that have been around for centuries and are still enduring, such as Yale, Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge. Obviously, they are no longer just the names of one or two universities, but have already become world-famous cultural brands. Well-known colleges and universities combine academic, culture, history, resources, good atmosphere and wide influence. In certain related business fields, the college brand undoubtedly has great commercial value. Many well-known universities in my country, such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Jiaotong University, have also applied or started to apply to register their school names as trademarks. It can be seen that institutional authorization will also have great potential in China.
7. Other authorizations (Fashion, Music, Publishing License)
Others mainly include: music authorization, publishing industry authorization, etc.
Brand authorization methods
Brand authorization methods generally include content authorization, product authorization, promotion authorization, channel authorization, theme authorization, etc. The licensee can cooperate with the brand according to its actual situation. Or the copyright owner uses different cooperation methods to obtain authorization.
1. Merchandising Licensing
The authorized party can use the trademark (Logo), character (Character) and shape pattern (Design) of the authorized brand in the design and development of goods. and obtain the right to sell.
2. Promotion Licensing
Promotional gift authorization: The authorized party can use the trademark (Logo), character (Character) and shape pattern (Design) of the authorized brand, Combine it with your own promotional activities and plan gifts to promote company product sales.
Pattern image authorization: The licensee can use the trademark (Logo), character (Character) and styling pattern (Design) of the authorized brand, combined with promotional activities, to plan main advertising and creative theme activities to achieve promotion Purpose.
3. Subject Licensing
The licensee can use the trademark, characters and patterns of the authorized brand as the theme to plan and operate theme projects
4. Place Licensing
Licensees can join chain stores and chain stores of authorized brands to sell authorized brand products in a unified manner.
In addition to the above four general authorization methods, different brand licensees/agents have their own unique authorization methods based on different brand characteristics.
Nature of brand authorization
There are generally three types of nature of brand authorization: exclusive authorization, exclusive authorization and general authorization.
In layman’s terms:
Exclusive authorization means that within a certain period or geographical scope, the rights holder only authorizes the authorized party to use the brand rights. In addition to the rights holder himself, The rights holder no longer authorizes third parties to use the brand.
Exclusive authorization means that within a certain period or geographical scope, the rights holder only authorizes the authorized party to use the brand rights, and does not authorize any third party, including the rights holder himself, to use the brand.
Ordinary authorization means that in addition to authorizing the authorized person, the rights holder also retains the right to authorize third parties to use the brand or to use the brand itself.
In terms of brand licensing, Guangzhou Blackstone Brand Operation Company has done a good job and can learn from it.
(This article comes from the Internet, please contact me if you need to correct it)