There Are Limits to Celebrities Use of Trademarks

Katy Perry performed during the halftime show at the Super Bowl. During her performance, a costumed shark appeared. Kate Perry's lawyers filed trademark claims for "left shark", "right shark", "drunk shark" and "basking shark".  Perry's lawyers also sent a cease-and-desist letter to sculptor Fernando Sosa who began selling a Left Shark figurine. Just how far celebrities can go in pursuing trademarks is discussed in Left Shark, Meet The Law: What Can Celebrities Actually Trademark?. Jessica Goldstein, the articles author, asserts "Trademark law doesn't exist to protect a creator from loss of profits; its purpose is to protect the consumer from confusion upon purchase."

Licensing Expo 2015 Expands International Pavilions

New International Pavilions at the Licensing Expo 2015 are revealed in Licensing Expo Welcomes The World To Las Vegas: International Pavilions Will Feature New Countries And Expanded Exhibits. There will be increased representation from several countries including Mexico, India, China, Japan, and the U.K. Brands from more than 35 countries will be represented on the show floor.

Build-A-Bear Thrives on Licensed Products

Build-A-Bear had a rise in fourth-quarter profits as reported in 'Frozen' characters help drive Build-A-Bear's 4Q profit; 'Star Wars' and 'Cinderella' bears coming. Build-A-Bear also opened five temporary stores around the holidays in Macy’s stores, which helped drive sales, Later this year, Build-A-Bear is planning on introducing a "Cinderella" bear tied to the Cinderella movie coming out this spring. The "Cinderella" bear will be priced at $80.

Article Asserts "Stealing" Logos Can Technically Be Legal

In 2014 designer Jeremy Scott decked out his models in McDonald's and SpongeBob SquarePants' motifs. He continued this approach in 2015 with a Barbie inspired collection. Following his success, others rushed in to try and capitalize on this style as reported in The Jeremy Scott Effect: How "Stealing" Logos Can Technically Be Legal. Other designers now feature collections highlighting Kodak, Coca-Cola, and characters from The Jungle Book. Use of the logos typically requires a licensing deal with the company owning the trademark. However, the article asserts there are exceptions such as using multiple logos to avoid misleading consumers into thinking they're endorsements.

Virtual Tour of New York Toy Fair 2015

If you could not attend the New York Toy Fair 2015, you can get a virtual tour by perusing the article Huge New York Toy Fair 2015 Wrap-Up: Best from the biggest brands and hot properties, Disney and beyond. The article, authored by Ricky Brigante, highlights the toys displayed by Hasbro, Mattel, LEGO, Funko, TOMY, Spin Master, NECA, and others. Disney chose to have their licensees display their merchandise rather than have a large Disney exhibit. The article contains dozens of videos and pictures highlighting what the author thought was the best of the show.

Star Wars Merch Expands

Star Wars: Episode VII is coming soon adding to the plethora of Star Wars merchandise. Some of the more intriguing items are revealed in May the boutique 'Star Wars' merch be with you. Two Star Wars themed guitars are available. A Han Solo Guitar for about $715 and the Rebel Bass for $793. Or maybe you would like a Han Solo shower curtain or Millennium Falcon Soap. Then there is a simple fork with the inscription May the Fork Be with You. My favorite is the Star Wars Darth Vader Toaster. It toasts 'Star Wars' on one side.

Can't Afford a Bentley? Buy Some Cologne

Luxury cars account for 18 percent of total car sales revenue domestically. Luxury car makers extend their brands as revealed in Luxury Cars Imprint Their Brands on Goods From Cologne to Clothing. Bentley, for example, licensees cologne, furniture, skis, handbags, and hotel suites. The Ferrari logo is found on chess sets and sunglasses. These brand extensions help retain customers, and capture future buyers who cannot yet afford the luxury cars.

2015 Expected to Be a Banner Year for Licensed Toys

2014 was a very good year for licensed toys. Toy sales were up about 4%, while licensed toy sales were up about 7%. Licensed toys were about 31% of all toy sales. The coming year looks like another strong year for licensed toys as reported in 'Star Wars' And 'Avengers' Will Dominate The Toy Stores As Well As Box Office. Several toy-friendly franchises are expected to do well including: Avengers: Age of Ultron, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, Minions, and Goosebumps.

Brand Licensing Europe 2015

Brand Licensing Europe 2015 will be held Oct. 13-15 at Olympia, London. The article Brand Licensing Europe Set to Grow Sports & Automotive Categories reports on new developments for BLE 2015. Among the 180 companies already signed up to exhibit at this year’s BLE are Adidas, A.C Milan, Arsenal Football Club, Chelsea Football Club, FIFA, Automobili Lamborghini SPA and Moto GP. BLE 2015 will feature three zones: Art, Design & Image; Brands & Lifestyle; and Character & Entertainment.

Cashing In On an Oscar

As reported in Turning Stars into Brands, nine years passed between Julia Robert's winning an Oscar and her becoming an ambassador for Lancôme. It took Lupita Nyong'o only one month to start working with Lancôme. Celebrities are increasingly seeking opportunities to associate themselves with a brand, or developing their own brand. Some have been spectacularly successful, while others have flopped. The article covers both successes and failures.

Lego Bricks Stronger Than Ferrari Cars

The article How Lego's bricks have built a stronger brand than Ferrari's cars reports that Lego has surpassed Ferrari in brand strength as measured by Brand Finance. Brand Finance evaluates a brand's ability to impact a company's performance. Factors that affect the performance include marketing investment and goodwill. The Most Valuable Brands of 2015 were dominated by technology companies with Apple, Samsung, and Google leading the way.

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Toy Fair 2015 Features New Licensed Products

At this year's Toy Fair 2015, NECA is displaying a host of new toys as reported in Toy Fair 2015: NECA Showcases New Products. Several toys are featured based on top selling licensed properties such as Pacific Rim, Alien, Guardians of the Galaxy, Halo, and Gremlins. The toys range in size from small figurines to a life size foam Rocket Raccoon figure from last summer's biggest blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy.

Elle Macpherson, a Pioneer in the Modeling Industry

Photographer and former "America's Next Top Model" judge Nigel Barker has a new book Models of Influence. In the article The 4 supermodels that changed the fashion world, Barker credits Elle Macpherson as being "the first real businesswoman in the modeling industry". When asked by a lingerie company to endorse their product, she asked instead for a licensing deal. She later launched Elle Macpherson Intimates, and after leaving Ford Models started Elle Macpherson, Inc.

Spider-Man Merchandise Could Outsell Movie

Marvel retains the merchandising rights to Spider-Man as detailed in Merchandising Rights Key To Marvel-Sony Spider-Man Deal. Spider-Man sells more licensed products than any other hero or team of heroes in North America, easily outselling its closest rival Batman (see - Holy Spidey Batman!).Consequently, sales of licensed merchandise are poised to surpass the movie box-office revenue.

'Beast Mode' Marketing

Marshawn Lynch maintains a year-old BeastMode online store featuring T-shirts, gold-and-silver foil hoodies, sports accessories and energy drinks. His approach to marketing is presented in Selling 'Beast Mode' After a Super Bowl Loss. Basically, he chooses to go his own way rather than rely on anyone else. So far it seems to be working. By wearing “BeastMode” baseball caps during Super Bowl press conferences, he generated the equivalent of $2.3 million in advertising for his brand. His website quickly sold out of hats.

Licensing Expo 2015

The Licensing Expo 2015 will be held June 9-11 in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. The Licensing Expo continues to expand with this year's Licensing Expo including more than 100 new exhibitors. More than 500 businesses will exhibit at the 2015 show. See a description of the show in New Year, New Exhibitors: Licensing Expo Rings In 2015 with New Additions to the Lineup. You can register for the show at: www.licensingexpo.com/registerhere

Penneys Hopes That Cinderella Is a Good Fit

J.C. Penney riding Disney’s coattails again discusses how Penney's hopes to profit from the soon to be released Cinderella movie, just as it did from the feature film Frozen.  Merchandise is made exclusively for Penney by Disney. Frozen merchandise was a top selling gift-giving category for Penney's during the holidays. Penney's is now adding 116 Disney shops inside Penney's stores bringing the total Disney shops in Penney stores to 680. These Disney shops are currently stocking Cinderella merchandise.

Large Sales of Movie-Related Merchandise Anticipated

As reported in 'Star Wars,' 'Minions' to Lead Record Year for Toy Industry several new films are being released in 2015. Among them are: Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Jurassic World, Minions, Fantastic Four and  Peanuts. Licensed toys represented 31 percent of total sales ($5.7 billion) and showed an increase of 7 percent in 2014. The anticipation of a particularly big year for movie-related merchandise licensing is building excitement among studios, licensees and retailers on the eve of the annual New York Toy Fair, which takes place Feb. 14 through Feb. 17.

Patriot Championship Gear Already in Stores

The article How do sports teams get their championship T-shirts so fast? reveals how the Patriots were wearing championship T-shirts right after the Super Bowl. Every year, shirts are printed for both teams before the final game and are kept in closely guarded boxes behind the scenes. Most championship T-shirts that you can buy in stores the next day are printed right after the game. Manufacturers and retailers pre-position thousands of blank shirts, jackets and hats at printing facilities all over the county. When the game ends they start-up the T-shirt presses.