Q.　What is licensing?

A.　One example is where a company, known as the “licensor”, authorizes the use of its owned trademarks and copyrights via written agreement for reproduction by a third party, known as a “licensee”, for videos/images, services, and manufactured goods for sale. This process is known as “licensing”.

The major benefit of licensing is to enhance the value of a company’s products, services and corporate image. Consumers will better understand a company’s offerings by leveraging the awareness and popularity of well-known copyrights and trademarks.

For example, using the copyright of a story or character, or a brand logo or trademark, can increase recognition of the products, services and information offered by the company which, in turn, will enhance and strengthen the corporate image.

SAMURAI ANIMALS™’s concept, characters and ink drawings are available for use upon entering a licensing contract.

Our corporate trademark “ART OF WAR™” is also available for licensing. Contact us for details.

A company that has signed a contract and is allowed to use its copyrights and trademarks is called a licensee. The licensor receives a license fee from the licensee based on sales.

The licensing business is a very broad area and there are many ways to handle it, so if you have a specific request, we will be happy to provide relevant advice.

Q.　What the differences between a licensor and a licensee?

A.　Licensor
Licensor refers to a corporation, organization, or individual that owns intellectual property (“IP” or “property”) such as copyrights and trademarks.
A licensor enters into agreements with a licensee for copyrights (e.g. concepts, characters, stories) and trademarks (e.g. brand logos) and is paid royalties by the licensee to use the property (compensation = profit). The earned royalties are the consideration or profit for the licensor.

Licensee
Licensee refers to a business that manufactures, sells, or provides products and services by using IP owned by a licensor under a license agreement where the licensee pays royalties. The use of copyrights and trademarks not only promotes corporate awareness and assists sales promotion, it can also bring added value and increased stock price benefits to a licensee.

IP (Property)
IP is short for “intellectual property” and refers to brands, trademarks, characters, and art. In licensing, it is generally referred to as “a property”.

As both a licensor and a licensee, we are experienced across all aspects of licensing. As well as our long history as a licensee, producing statues under license
with famous properties such as Berserk and GANTZ, we also the licensor of SAMURAI ANIMALS™, our original character brand.

We interact directly with our licensees without the need of a licensing agent. This ensures we can build a direct relationship with our licensing partners for more efficient communications. Also, the financial structure is better since a commission does not need to be paid to an agent.

Q.　What is branding?

A.　Branding refers to the use of copyrights and trademarks to promote a company’s values, corporate personality, and image to internal and external stakeholders.The goal is to improve a company’s recognition and value; more added value equals increased corporate value.

In branding, it is very important to match and integrate corporate ideals and business planning with a readily identifiable visual image.

As an example of branding, imagine a packaging materials company that prints SAMURAI ANIMALS™ characters on its boxes and other materials.The company’s philosophy, corporate image, and identity will permeate through SAMURAI ANIMALS™ to the workers who carry the materials and the people who see them.

Example: difference between using or not using a logo and character.

We have established a niche market for the global figure brand ART OF WAR™, along with the expertise to license it. In addition, we have a philosophy for creating the beauty of art and craft forms mainly from the Sengoku Period.

With our expertise in successful branding in the global market, we are able to create and redefine the corporate philosophy for client companies. In conjunction with that, we provide consulting services for business planning, logo creation and corporate identity colors that determine a corporate image.

We also provide niche, high-quality image characters through SAMURAI ANIMALS™, which we believe will have a significant impact on the future development of the character licensing business.

Licensing partners will give SAMURAI ANIMALS™ a fresh impetus and support its growth into a world-class property.

We welcome your licensing enquiries and business proposals about SAMURAI ANIMALS™. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Q.　Can you tell me about the personalities and characteristics of the Samurai Animals characters.

A.　Visit the SAMURAI ANIMALS™ website for more details about the property.

We will provide further details on SAMURAI ANIMALS™ once a license agreement has been finalized.
We are planning to release more stories about the individual characters in the SAMURAI ANIMALS™ universe.
Please contact us with any questions about the information provided and about licensing agreements.

Q.　Can we add our own colors to characters?

A.　Yes, you can.
We use monotone sumi-e Japanese style India-ink paintings in our SAMURAI ANIMALS™ digital publications to give the reader the freedom to imagine the character colors.

We deliberately did not assign specific colors for the characters because by changing the color scheme, so as to encourage licensees to experiment.
Different colors can create a completely different impression and even personality of a character.

The creative freedom to use color schemes allows licensees to determine the colors based on the use.
We do not place restrictions on the use of colors. Please contact us to discuss your requirements.

Example) Difference in how the character looks depending on the color

Q.　Can you design an original character for my company?

A.　Yes, you can.
Please feel free to contact us for more information.