F.A.Q.

How long has Licensing Direct been in business?

Licensing Direct has been serving the inventor community since 1998.

Do you work only with individual inventors who approach you independently, or do invention assistance firms also send their clients to you for licensing negotiations?

Licensing Direct welcomes both private, independent inventors as well as clients from invention assistance professionals and companies. Our newest professional relationship of this kind is with NewProductHelp.com

How does your Optional Patent Attorney Referral Service work?

Licensing Direct has a working relationship with various patent law firms and independent patent attorneys. If a client of Licensing Direct’s wishes to also investigate the possibility of applying for intellectual property protection on their invention while Licensing Direct handles licensing matters, they can be forwarded to one of the member firms in the service. The firms offer special discounted rates to Licensing Direct clients on all of their services related to intellectual property protection. The patent attorney firms themselves are the ones that can provide full details on their exact rates.

Does Licensing Direct negotiate “buyouts” of inventions, or do you strictly work on licensing agreements that pay royalties over an allotted period of time?

Licensing Direct is receptive to discussing any type of potential transaction involving intellectual property on behalf of our clients. This could potentially be an offer of a “buyout” of the rights to an invention and/ or its patent, but realistically, that scenario is exceedingly rare in our experience. However, if the opportunity does present itself, we are certainly prepared to explore the possibility and we attempt to secure the best deal possible on behalf of our client.

How many licensing agreements has Licensing Direct been directly responsible for securing?

As of this writing, Licensing Direct and/or its affiliated companies (New Product Help, Inc., Invention Technologies, Inc.) have been directly responsible for securing over two hundred-fifty licensing agreements. It is important to note that this does not indicate two hundred-fifty individual inventions. A number of the inventions have actually been licensed a second time to a different licensee, once the original licensing agreement was dissolved.

How many products has Licensing Direct been directly responsible for getting into the marketplace?

The answer is, and will always be, zero. This question brings up the important issue of distinguishing between when a product is licensed and when a product is actually sold on the market.

Licensing Direct is solely responsible for attempting to negotiate a licensing agreement with the most lucrative deal possible for our inventor clients. However, the signing of such an agreement only signifies an intent by the licensee (manufacturer) to manufacture, market, and distribute the product they are licensing. Whether or not a product ever actually goes into production and is released widely to the consumer market is solely under the control of the licensee.