Liscensing

Licensing is a revenue strategy. HMLG treats it like one.

A license is a written business model.

Most licensing agreements get drafted as documents when they should have been designed as deals. The terms deciding whether a licensing program makes money, and whether you still own your brand at the end of it, are settled long before anyone signs a contract. Scope. Territory. Exclusivity. Term and renewal. Royalty structure and audit rights. Quality control. What happens at termination.

HMLG works on licensing from the strategy end first. We help you decide what to license, to whom, on what terms, and how the program will be administered once it’s live. Then we paper it.

What a Licensing Attorney Does

• Licensing program design. Building the structure before the first deal, so every subsequent agreement is consistent and the program scales.
• Deal negotiation. Representing licensors and licensees in commercial negotiation, not just document markup.
• Royalty and financial terms. Rate structures, minimum guarantees, advances, reporting obligations, and audit rights you can actually exercise.
• Quality control and brand protection. The provisions deciding whether your brand survives the license.
• Portfolio management. Ongoing administration of multiple agreements, renewals, and territories.
• Disputes and enforcement. Breach, underreporting, unauthorized use, and termination. HMLG handles these transactionally and brings in litigation counsel when a matter requires it.

Licensing Services HMLG Provides

• Brand licensing and merchandising. Consumer products, collaborations, and brand extensions.
• Strategic and commercial licensing. Distribution, co-branding, joint ventures, and partnership structures where licensing is the mechanism.
• Technology and content licensing. Software, platform, data, and AI-related licensing, including questions around training data and generated output.
• IP licensing and royalties. Trademark, copyright, and trade secret licensing across industries.
• Media and entertainment rights. Music, film, television, gaming, publishing, and creator rights. HMLG lawyers helped build the business models for digital music, including the first legal digital music service.

Why Licensing Strategy Comes Before the Licensing Agreement

Two licensing agreements can contain the same clauses and produce completely different outcomes. The difference is whether the terms were designed around how the business will actually run.

A royalty rate without a reporting obligation is unenforceable in practice. An exclusivity grant without a performance minimum lets your licensee sit on your rights. A territory defined by geography instead of channel means nothing in an e-commerce business.

These are business decisions wearing legal clothing, and they are where HMLG spends its time.