Licensing
Let others use the work, on terms you wrote
A license is how your design ends up on someone else's shelf without you giving it away: who can use it, where, for how long, and what you are paid.
I draft and review licenses for designers, inventors, musicians and small brands: a print-on-demand deal, a collaboration with a bigger label, a manufacturer making your product under your name. I read the other side's draft too, and tell you which clauses to push on.
Agreements I write
Royalty and flat-fee licenses
Brand collaborations
Manufacturing agreements
Assignments from freelancers
The clauses worth reading twice
Every license I review gets a short memo that covers at least these.
Scope
Which products, which places, and whether the license is exclusive.
Money
How royalties are counted, when they are paid and how you can check them.
Term and exit
How long it lasts and what happens to stock when it ends.
Licensing work, at a flat fee
Review of their draft
A written memo and a marked-up copy, plus one call.
License drafted for you
Written from scratch around your deal, with two rounds of changes.
Assignment
Moves ownership of work a contractor made over to you.
Negotiating with the other side is quoted separately, before it starts.
Licensing questions
Do I need a trademark before I license my brand?
It helps a great deal. A licensee pays for the right to use something you own, and a registration is the clearest proof that you own it.
What is a fair royalty?
It depends on the product and the market. I can tell you what the draft in front of you means in dollars, but not what to accept; that is your call.
Can you negotiate for me?
Yes. Most clients start with a review and decide after reading the memo whether to handle the back-and-forth themselves.