Profit from Your Idea: How to Make Smart Licensing Deals (Paperback)

~ Richard Stim Attorney (Author)
Key Phrases: option agreement, escrow agent, legal fund, Help Beyond This Book, United States, Confidential Information (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Gives detailed instructions on working with manufacturers, marketers and distributors, and addresses issues on copyright and trademark laws, ownership, finances and much more." -- Baton Rouge Advocate

"Tells inventors everything they need to know to enter into a solid licensing agreement." -- Electronics Now

"Tells prospective entrepreneurs how to move an idea 'from thought to bought' -- and roughly what inventors can expect to get in a licensing deal." -- Los Angeles Times

"With an array of forms on disk, in combination with the insights of intellectual property attorney Stim, inventors can hold onto the titles and profits of their inventions rather than sell out to companies." -- Book News

Product Description

The most complete guide to licensing your idea available!

Like most inventors, you dream of striking it rich -- finding a company you can trust, hashing out a fair licensing deal, watching your idea hit the marketplace and then raking in the profits.

But where do you find the right company? And how do you draft an agreement that protects your interests? Turn to Profit From Your Idea.

This book provides the practical advice and the legal licensing language you need to turn your brainchild into a moneymaker. It helps you:

understand the licensing process

determine your rights

work with agents effectively

find potential licensees

license overseas

show your invention while protecting your work

negotiate a fair licensing deal

draft your own licensing agreement

understand, review and negotiate changes

The 6th edition is completely updated with current law, and provides a new section on funding invention licensing.

List of Forms
Agreement Worksheet
Assignment of Rights: Patent
Assignment of Rights: Patent Application
Assignment of Rights: No Patent Issued or Application Filed
Letter Confirming Employee's Ownership of Intellectual Property Rights
Joint Ownership Agreement
Agent Letter Agreement
One-Way Nondisclosure Agreement
Mutual Nondisclosure Agreement
Contract Worksheet
Letter of Intent
Option Agreement
Terms Sheet
License Agreement
Escrow Agreement
Checklist for Reviewing a License Agreement
License Dates Chart
Audit Request Letter

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 442 pages
• Publisher: NOLO; 6th edition (March 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1413307639
• ISBN-13: 978-1413307634
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #122,005 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Absolute Must Read for Inventors, January 24, 2006

By	Bill Bazik (Fairview Park, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: License Your Invention: Sell Your Idea and Protect Your Rights with a Solid Contract (Paperback)

If you have a patented or a patentable invention and have decided not to manufacture or market it yourself, but wish to license a company to do so, this book is for you. In fact, it is a must read. The book covers not only the licensing of inventions but the licensing of trade secrets and copyrights.

As the author points out, manufacturing your invention yourself (venturing) is often not the wisest course. Few inventors have the funds or the experience to run a successful business venture. Also the cost of fighting infringers can be financially devastating for a new enterprise.

Perhaps the greatest strength of this book is its ability to explain legal terms and legal fine points in down to earth, everyday, language. An example of the practical approach this book takes is when the author comments: "Sad as it may seem, you may be better off with no license at all than a licensee that has a reputation for acting unethically".

He further notes that finding the right partner for a license can be harder than inventing and patenting. The author points out how some common agreements you as an inventor may make may have an impact your ability to license. He cites ten examples. One is a representation (rep) agreement that may require paying the rep a percentage of your license even though the rep was not involved in negotiating it!

How commercial is your invention? A list of 33 areas and factors to check is given. When you consider that only two or three out of a 100 new inventions succeed, it is well worth your time to go over this list early on. The book notes even brilliant inventions may be ignored by the public if the price is too high.

While many inventors worry about infringers, you should also be aware of the fact that "Many patent owners use their patents to earn more money stopping infringers than from selling the invention". An area that inventors seldom worry about is how their spouse may affect their license. Under various state laws, not only can spouses share ordinary property, but they can share intellectual property as well. Their signature on an assignment may be required.

Similar to this is the vital importance of spelling out the rights involved in a joint ownership agreement. A three page form for doing this is given in the book. A convenient feature of this book is that copies of forms appear alongside the subject under discussion. The forms also appear in the appendix and on a floppy disk located on the inside back cover of the book. (17 forms are provided.)

Several pages are devoted to the subject of invention marketing scams and on how to recognize a phony marketing company. Despite the best efforts of state and federal law agencies, scams take American inventors for hundreds of millions of dollars every year. If you do nothing else, read these pages.

For various reasons, companies fear and resist ideas from an outside source. The author offers suggestions for overcoming the "kooky loner" image that Hollywood has foisted on the public with regard to inventors. On the other hand, there are some companies that steal ideas and it behooves the inventor to check out their reputations before disclosing anything without an agreement.

The author discusses the very important topics of GMAR (guaranteed minimum annual royalty), how "net sales" figures can be modified by nine types of deductions, and he examines twelve factors affecting royalties.

A twelve page license agreement is presented and a thorough point by point discussion is made. Here and elsewhere in the book "legalese" is avoided and when it cannot be avoided a plain and simple explanation is given. For example, attorneys use a method called "redline/strikeout" to revise agreements. The author reduces this to plain English.

An eight page checklist for reviewing your license agreement is provided. It tells you what keywords, what phrases, and what terms need to be analyzed. It also refers you to the proper chapter for more information. Regarding "legalese", the author gives a fundamental bit of advice: "If a lawyer can't explain your situation clearly to you, he probably won't be able to explain it clearly to a judge or jury".

This is the first edition of this book. This reviewer suspects it will join David Pressman's Patent It Yourself (now in its seventh edition) as an absolute must read for inventors.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like Your Own Licensing Attorney in a Book!, April 4, 2001

By	Stephen Paul Gnass, Founder Invention Convention® (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: License Your Invention: Sell Your Idea and Protect Your Rights with a Solid Contract (Paperback)

With this one creative work, Attorney Richard Stim has given the inventor lightening power [like the art on the cover shows] in understanding what it takes to license an invention. It's easy to grasp because it's written in layman's terms. He has graphs on the licensing process, with forms in the back of the book as well sample agreements. He's given the inventor the tools and formats for licensing agreements, non-disclosure agreements, option agreements, contract work, agency letters, etc. And, all these agreements are also on a disk which is included with the book. He's outdone himself. I can't say enough about what Richard has put into this excellent licensing course for the inventor. I believe that it not only helps the independent novice inventor, but is also a good reference for those who consider themselves experts. Even attorneys should find this an excellent addition to their legal library. I recommend it highly. Accolades to Richard.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great guide to the licensing process, April 4, 2003

By	Michael Waller "GunDemo.com" (CT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: License Your Invention: Sell Your Idea and Protect Your Rights with a Solid Contract (Paperback)

This book is very educational about how to go about the licensing process. It's very easy reading, not the technical boring style. The included software is a major plus! You can customize the included licensing contracts.

Michael Waller
Iconium Clothing...