Every licensed product speaks for your brand. Brand protection in licensing is the set of controls that keeps those products consistent with your standards, keeps royalty reporting honest, and keeps unlicensed goods from trading on your name. Bruce Garfield has built these controls from the inside, protecting marks for Honda and advising Donut Media’s Brand and Merchandise Board on intellectual property protection.
A trademark owner who licenses a mark is expected to control the nature and quality of the goods sold under it. A program without real oversight can weaken the mark. Approval steps usually cover concept, pre production samples, final product and packaging, and marketing materials that use the marks.
Licensees report sales and pay royalties on a schedule set in the agreement. Reviewing statements against minimums and prior periods catches gaps, and the right to audit the licensee’s books lets the numbers be verified.
Once a brand is licensed, look alike and counterfeit goods tend to follow. Watching marketplaces, trade shows and retail for products that use the marks without a license gives the brand owner and its counsel what they need to decide on enforcement.
Many protection problems start with vague agreements. Meticulous contract negotiation, done with your attorney, makes sure territory, channels, sublicensing, approvals, termination and sell off rights are spelled out, and so that the licensee’s obligations match what the brand actually needs.
Brand protection in a licensing program covers the controls around licensed products: approvals, reporting, audits and market watch. Enforcement actions such as cease and desist letters and lawsuits are legal matters handled by your attorney.
Well written agreements treat that as a breach with defined remedies, which can include removing the products from sale and, in serious cases, termination. Your counsel handles the legal steps.
The agreement gives the licensor the right to inspect the licensee’s records, usually with notice and limited to a certain frequency. If an audit finds underpayment, the licensee pays the difference and often the audit cost when the gap is significant.
It can help. When authentic licensed products are available in the channels customers use, fewer buyers turn to fakes, and licensees have their own reason to report knockoffs.
Garfield Agency provides licensing strategy and business services. It is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. For trademark filings, clearance opinions and litigation, work with a licensed attorney.
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