Under Minnesota State Law we have no legal personnel on staff and cannot give advice on Patenting, Trademarking, etc. However, as most toys or games are never patented we don’t recommend this action unless your idea has some extremely unique proprietary technology.
It is impossible to offer a timeline for success! We have had product ideas in our portfolio for more than five years and others for less than three weeks before placing them with a toy company. Once licensed, a new idea typically takes 12 to 18 months before it shows up on the retail shelf.
Competition from many professional toy design groups is very fierce and to be taken seriously the quality of your material must match or exceed what is typically presented to a toy company executive. If your idea has good licensing potential we will send you an agency agreement at no immediate cost – see 5.
Notwithstanding the above, if your idea needs strengthening before presentation in terms of its look, design, or graphics, this is at your own expense. We do not complete this type of work ourselves, and recommend designer(s) that can help (under a “work-for-hire” basis so you keep ownership of the copyright) only if your idea is worth pursuing and we want to act as your agent.
We charge no fees to enter into a license agreement on your behalf but our share of the royalty depends upon the size of toy company (the Licensee). If the agreement is with Hasbro, Mattel or Spin Master Toy then the split is 40% to us and 60% to you of all options, advances, and royalties. If the Licensee is small (with limited distribution) then we share equally in the income and continue to find other licensees for the remaining territories.
Although we carefully select what concepts enter our portfolio only a handful are licensed every year, and the ensuing royalties can vary considerably from a few thousand dollars paid as an advance, to many tens of thousands over product’s life-cycle. We never make any promises as to licensing success, nor a dollar return on your investment.
Estimating royalty income is based on the wholesale price, not retail price. Consequently, a doll manufactured by Hasbro that retails for say, $34.99 may have a list price of $20.00. If the royalty rate is 5% and 300,000 units are sold in the first year then the income (less the recouped advance) will be: $20.00 x 5% x 300,000 = $300,000 and your share is 60% = $180,000. However, if the idea is a mini-game, this could include the application of a well-known Character License such as Pokemon™, Dora The Explorer™, etc. In which case the royalty rate is likely to be only 2% - 3% because the manufacturer is already paying anything upwards of 10% - 14% for the use of the Character rights. Hence the calculation might now be as follows: A Scooby Doo™ themed game manufactured by Pressman Toy with a wholesale price of $9.00 and which sells 100,000 units in the first year: $9.00 x 3% x 100,000 = $27,000 and your share is 50% = $13,500.
The following categories are a rough guide to some of the areas of interest:
Games: Electronic board games for girls; 3-D or electronic pre-school games; board games with a proprietary element extending existing successful brands (e.g., Sorry™, UNO™, etc.); low priced games with an innovative twist, fun inexpensive outdoor games; adult games with a novel mechanism (think the “Toaster Timer” in Guesstures™ or the Dental Dam in Watch Ya Mouth™).
Toys: Girls toys; Large and mini dolls that do something mechanically or electronically novel; vehicles with tricks; low priced outdoor throwing/catching toys; inventive foam based toys; bubble toys with a clever feature; water toys; plush animals with an original “try-me” feature. There were also gaps in lines for clever activity toys – especially for the Tween girl market.
Gifts: Gift companies are in the business of “me to you” sentiment and social expression, i.e., "I saw this and thought of you." Although value for money is always important, price is not so critical in the gift arena provided the item contains a strong proprietary, shelf-demonstrable feature or unique light-up characteristics.
NOTE: As a Licensing Agency (and NOT a marketing company) our goal is to assist you with a good, licensable idea but dissuade you from proceeding further if it is unlikely to generate a royalty, etc.
