Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi,

This is my first time and a totally different area so please excuse me if the questions are too basic or stupid
I have an idea for a product for kids and I would like to use the existing licensed brands like spiderman, ninja turtles, power rangers, dora, etc....
My question is how do I go about finding information on licensed products and how to deal with them. I dont want like a company to make the product but rather would like to find out how to contact licensed product owners and find out what are the terms under which I can use the existing characters, etc. Is there a royalty that needs to be paid or how does it work? I hope I`ve explained myself, to be honest, I`m completely new to the business and legal aspects of copyright/licensing and all that stuff. If it works at all, eventually I think it will be a web based business.
Any help and advice to atleast steer me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
uzee

It depends on what you mean by "using" existing licensed brands.  What are you going to be doing with them?  I understand that you may not want to disclose your "secret sauce" to the public here, but it`s tough to give you a more definitive answer without knowing it.

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Thanks for your reply and for understanding my limitation without me saying it

Ok. Let me try explaining as much as I can. I want to use the images of these characters on the product. For example you must have seen kid`s bed side lamps. You can get a regular lamp with an ordinary shade or you can get a lamp with  say a spiderman shade, or a dora shade, etc. The product I have in mind is not related to lamps or shades but thats the concept. Its not a new invention, just an existing product that I would like to customize for kids.

Please let me know fi this gives you enough information...
Thanks