QuickBooks Point of Sale 2016 additional license

Americans have long admired inventors, those gadgeteers intent on thinking up the next big thing. From Ben Franklin, who tinkered with eyeglasses to create bifocals to Fulton’s steam engine, Bell’s telephone and Edison’s light bulbs, the notion of building a better mousetrap is right up there with baseball, apple pie, and Mom.

But how do you break through so customers will beat a path to buy your product? For many, the answer lies in licensing their product — giving others who have either the expertise in new product launches, the connections to get retailers’ attention, or both, the rights to manufacture and market their “baby” in exchange for paying them royalties on every sale.

Whether your product is a toy or a breakthrough medical device, to get it to market via others’ efforts you’ll have to navigate the complex world of licensing. Here are some pointers:

1. Expect to give away most of the farm. Consider yourself lucky if your licensing deal gives you 5 percent of the sales in royalties. Try to get a minimum guarantee: an amount you will get whether your licensee succeeds or fails with your product. “Royalties are driven by many factors, including the strength of the IP and the market segment, ” says Soody Tronson, founder and principal of Soody Tronson Law Group, a Silicon Valley firm that specializes in intellectual property.

In the consumer goods industry, she explains, royalties can range between 4 percent and 12 percent with higher rates paid to health and beauty aid products than, say, food products, which are typically between 4 percent and 5 percent. Commodity items tend to earn a relatively low royalty rate (about 3 percent) with consumer goods yielding around 5 percent. Software may earn about 7 percent to 8 percent. Celebrities who license their name for goods can earn royalties in the double digits. Rates in clothing and toys/games may range from 12 percent to 15 percent.