Legal protection and merchandise licensing of titles,characters and slogans

Conclusion  Protecting a merchandising program by the given means of Law means safeguarding substantial investment for obtaining a certain Merchandising Property. Therefore protection should be found at a very early stage and has to be maintained with great care to avoid later conflicts and loss of money. Before starting a merchandising program four steps should be resolved:

1.	Find out what you want to merchandise. What has the potential?
2.	Find out who is the owner of that intellectual property.
3.	Protect the property against piracy.
4.	Safeguard your expenses by solid contracts.

This article was first presented at the 15th International Rights Directors Meeting, “Branding, Licensing and Merchandising—Rights Income through Brands and Characters” during the Frankfurt Book Fair, Germany, October 9, 2001.