Remember Merv Griffin? The TV celebrity and game-show producer died a billionaire a couple years ago. One of his many claims to fame was the game show Jeopardy.
Now Merv was smarter than your average celebrity. Here's why:
In 1964, he created Jeopardy. In 1986, he sold his production company for $250 million to Columbia Pictures. The sale of the production company included two of the shows he created, Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. The buyer, Columbia Pictures, got all rights. Except...
Merv Griffin held back one thing. The rights to the Jeopardy "think" music (that catchy little tune they play during "Final Jeopardy.") Griffin kept the rights to that music and licensed it to the new owner of the show. They had to pay him a royalty every time they played the music.
Which added $70 million more to his fortune.
Licensing: General Electric might be one of the world's biggest and most respected companies all because Thomas Edison was too smart to enter into a licensing agreement.
Few people realize that Edison didn't exactly do all the work himself on inventing the light bulb. In 1874, Henry Woodward, a medical student, and Mathew Evans, an innkeeper, were awarded a patents in the U.S. and Canada for a light bulb. Edison could have licensed these patents for pennies, but he didn't.
Instead, he wisely bought the patents in 1879 for $5,000.
And the inventors never saw another dime.
But Edison did. He made a fortune (and built what eventually became a Fortune 500 company, General Electric). By having the full rights and not having to pay a royalty for that patent that he licensed to use.
Because Woodward and Evans just weren't as smart at Thomas Edison.
Or Merv Griffin.
Licensing, 2009: My friend and copywriting mentoring student Chris Haddad learned about licensing last year and bought a course on it, on my recommendation. I spoke with Chris this afternoon (Tuesday, February 3). Chris told me that because of what he learned, he made $12,500 last year that he otherwise wouldn't have made, and... one licensing deal that will come to fruition will net him $60,000 - $70,000 residual income this year.
As we were talking on the phone, we realized another licensing deal practically staring him the in face that could bring in an additional six figures this year.
Chris learned about licensing from my friend Bob Serling -the only person I have met who has come up with a simple licensing system that just about anyone can use to make a lot of extra money. Bob has a lot of free information available about this system and I would urge you to check it out.
Because, you see, licensing is no longer just for inventors and Hollywood moguls. Now marketers can make money with it too. See for yourself: davidgarfinkel.com/licensing
David Garfinkel
Publisher, World Copywriting Newsletter
