Question: What role does Licensing play in an IP protection strategy?

Licensing is a vital element to building a brand. It is also an important pillar of a comprehensive intellectual property (“IP”) protection strategy. Some of the more obvious benefits of licensing include increased revenue and broader development of a brand.

However, the benefits of a robust licensing program in protecting a brand can be overlooked. This is because licensing agents and those charged with protecting a brand are often disconnected from one another, under-informed about each other’s activities and ultimately pursuing different objectives. Continental Enterprises (“Continental”) avoids these inefficiencies by bringing licensing services and IP protection under the same roof.

Licensing is a natural extension of IP protection for a number of reasons. First, effective licensing pushes counterfeits out of the marketplace. When licensed products meet the level of consumer demand, there is less opportunity for counterfeit and unlicensed products to divert consumer resources. Second, unlicensed products signal unmet consumer demand. As a result, enforcement efforts can spawn innovative new directions for a licensing program and open up new opportunities for distribution of legitimate products. Third, licensing can help sharpen and expand the boundaries of your IP. Using the complimentary tools of licensing and enforcement is the most efficient way to drive your brand into new territory.

In the end, you can increase your brand’s value through collaborative efforts of both licensing and IP enforcement. This is achieved by providing consumers with high-quality branded merchandise that appropriately reflects the image of the brand in conjunction with removing inferior, unlicensed and nefarious products from the marketplace. Because of the close connection between licensing and IP protection services, it is optimal to have these services provided by one agency. Continental Enterprises combines these services in a manner that is intuitive, efficient, complimentary to one another and supportive of your overall goals for your brand.