the last post

How long does it take to get a licensing contract signed?

well that depends where you start from? If you have the approval of the board, a suitable licensee, agreed heads of terms and the outline of a standard contract you'll be lucky if you can do it in less than 3 months.

'3 months!' I hear you exclaim...' even after all the preparation'. Yes that's right, a minimum of 3 months. In fact this is the most tortuous process known to man. It's like playing volleyball on a huge court. the ball comes to your side, you look at it, pass it to the lawyer, he looks at it, passes it back to you, you look at his look at it, pass it back to him, he looks at your look at his look passes it back to you and then eventually, you pass it back to the other side who go through the whole thing on their side.... ultimately it becomes a waitathon with both sides trying to outdo each other in affecting to care as little as possible to not give away their negotiating position over points so moot you could bury them in a time capsule under the new channel tunnel station at Kings Cross.

Then, if by some miracle both sides ever ultimately agree you can bet your bottom dollar the post will take another 2 weeks before someone somewhere actually has both sides signed in their hands... then the work starts. Meanwhile everyone's been paid - the lawyers, the negotiators, everyone - oh except for the licensing consultancy, did i forget to mention them?