Licensing
"The Odds Of You Licensing That Idea Are One In A Million"
"The Odds Of You Licensing That Idea Are One In A Million"
In my home office, I'd brainstorm new ideas while shooting baskets with my indoor Ohio Art basketball game. I’ve always loved playing basketball. There's nothing quite like making a few buckets.
This Ohio Art indoor basketball game featured a small picture of Michael Jordan on the backboard. Being a huge Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan fan, I thought to myself, Michael needs to be bigger! Does the backboard have to be square?
So, I bought a Michael Jordan poster at the mall and resized it on a copy machine to fit the backboard. After removing the original graphics, I taped the resized image to the backboard.
Now the entire backboard was Michael Jordan, and I absolutely loved it.
But, like everyone else, I wasn’t quite sure anyone else would feel the same way — so I asked my wife.
She wasn’t a big fan of this idea.In fact, she told me the chances of me licensing this idea were about one in a million.
No matter: I photographed my prototype and named it, “Hoop Hoop Hooray.”
A rough prototype, but they’d get the idea. A ridiculous name, to be sure. It was for a complete range of different types of indoor basketball games I included with my sell sheet.
I didn’t file any intellectual property — didn’t even think to — and sent it to Ohio Art.
To my surprise, they were interested in the Michael Jordan version. In just three days, they offered a signed contract and gave me an advance payment.
Ohio Art nailed it with the name: "The Michael Jordan Wall-Ball." This product was a hit, selling in every major retailer, including Walmart, for over 10 years.
Seeing my idea in stores was amazing. I couldn’t believe it!!!
Even more incredible was watching the Michael Jordan Wall-Ball commercial with my kids on Saturday mornings. Michael Jordan himself endorsed the product, calling it the best-looking backboard he'd ever seen.
Truly amazing!
From this experience, I learned that it’s okay to ask others about your ideas, but…
1. Only one opinion really matters when product licensing: The company you’re pitching to.
2. A good idea is a good idea, regardless of how it’s presented.
3. Licensing is a numbers game. Keep creating, keep pitching.
4. Find those companies that want to work with us, idea-people!
Every product I license teaches me valuable lessons.
Being able to create new ideas and make a living has always made me feel very fortunate. I also feel it’s my job to help my fellow creator and pass those lessons forward — and that’s why inventRight was established over 23 years ago.
About the contributor
Stephen KeyStephen Key is an award-winning inventor, renowned intellectual property strategist, lifelong entrepreneur, author, speaker, and columnist. Stephen has over 20 patents in his name and the dozens of concepts he has brought to market have retailed in Walmart, 7-Eleven, and Disney stores and parks worldwide and been endorsed by Michael Jordan, Alex Trebek, and Taylor Swift. He has defended his patents in federal court against the largest toy company in the world, Lego’s. In 1999, he cofounded inventRight to teach others his unique process for harnessing the power of open innovation and the licensing business model. His bestselling book about how to license an idea, One Simple Idea by McGraw-Hill, has been translated into six languages. He has written more than 1,000 articles about intellectual property strategy, product licensing, and entrepreneurship for publications online including Forbes, Inc., and Entrepreneur. Universities and governmental organizations around the world regularly invite him to teach them inventRight’s unique processes for commercializing new product ideas. Stephen has won over 20 industry awards, including two Edison Awards and the Most Influential and Inspiring Leader Of All Time by the WorldIP Forum in 2022. In 2018, he was recognized as a AAAS-Lemelson Invention Ambassador. In 2020, he became a founding member of the United States Intellectual Property Alliance. In 2022, Stephen contributed to “Cases in IP Strategy: Industry Lessons Learned” from the non-profit Michelson Institute for IP. Currently, he’s part of the team responsible for launching a new sustainable packaging innovation that replaces the need to use plastic to carry beverages called Fishbone.
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