Legal Question in Business Law in New York

licensing laws for gifts and gifts sets

I am an entrepreneur from NY in the field of gift baskets, gift sets etc. But my company will be going online soon and we wish to venture into using more well known products and name brands like Disney's Winney the Pooh and Looney Toons' Bugs Bunny. This will allow us to stand out and stop creating ''cookie cutter'' gift sets like everyone else.

My question is:

If we are purchasing the products to fill these sets at wholesale or retail from licensors and retailers who have created licensing agreements with Trademark and Brand owners, do we also have to create a licensing arrangement with these companies?


Asked on 4/27/03, 10:16 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Gerry Elman Elman Technology Law, P.C.

Re: licensing laws for gifts and gifts sets

I don't know your specific facts and can't provide advice that is responsive to the question the way you asked it.

However, the more general questions are: "Can a company purchase a product from a supplier that includes an image of a licensed character and then lawfully re-sell that product as part of a package with other products?" and "Can the company add another image of the licensed character to the package without running afoul of the licensor's rights?"

The answer in each instance would depend on what the license agreement between the supplier and the licensor says. Typically the answer to both questions would be NO, but I could imagine some situations where the answer to the first question could be YES.

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Answered on 4/27/03, 11:13 pm


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