- Imagine being part of an industry that continues to grow year over year. If you have a trusted brand or product, licensing may be right for you.

What is licensing? Licensing is the process of leasing a legally protected entity, such as a character, name, logo, or design. Brand owners can lease their rights to their intellectual property, allowing them to tap into new markets faster. Retailers and manufacturers can increase sales by expanding their product offerings through brands.

Simply put, licensing offers brands, manufacturers, and retailers additional revenue streams through the sale of consumer goods, without major risk or investment. The best part? Consumers benefit when brands partner with manufacturers and retailers to create valued products and services.

How does licensing work? Brand owners develop intellectual properties that earn trust and loyalty from consumers. They can lease their IP to expand into additional product categories, which may increase sales, open new market territories, and help protect their intellectual property.

When a brand owner leases their rights to their intellectual property, or IP, they're known as the licensor. Licensors earn royalties on products sold to retailers that are branded using their intellectual properties.

Licensing isn't just about the brand owners. Licensing provides manufacturers and retailers unique advantages as well. Manufacturers and retailers compete with millions of products every day. It can take many years and millions of dollars to develop a successful brand.

With licensing, manufacturers and retailers can produce and sell products with trusted brand names, putting them miles ahead of the competition.

Companies who lease intellectual properties from brand owners are called licensees. By leveraging brand equity in their products, licensees can increase sales, grow market share, target new audiences, and utilize a brand's creative assets. Through licensing, retailers and manufacturers help brand owners discover the full value of their brands equity, while expanding their own business.

Where can you get started? UVM's global licensing group brings together licensors and licensees from across the globe. In a digital world, the value of connecting on a meaningful human level has never been more important.

Incredible things happen when people come together, interact, and inspire one another. Millions of products across the world begin as a conversation at a UVM licensing show. Will yours?