How does a person and/or small company buy a product from another company/companies?

[gymim]

I am wondering how a person and/or small company would buy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire...ernal_Struggle (a card game that has trademarks and patents owned by 2 different companies [CCP via White Wolf, and Hasbro via Wizards of the Coast])? I would like to do the research on what the process is and who all would be involved, but I don’t know the legal-ize (i.e. the correct words. I don’t even know if patent and trademarks are even the right things to look at) or who to even start talking too.

Does anyone have any advice on what to research and who to talk to about learning about this?

Thank you for your time and information.

[grude]

WAG but email or call them and ask? Assuming you are serious.

I have never bought intellectual and trademark property business to business, but I have emailed businesses without consumer sales divisions to inquire about purchasing. Responses have ranged from ignoral, refusal, told I would have to purchase a certain quantity, all the way to willing to sell units to me or success.

[gymim]

sorry for the ignorant response, but what does WAG mean? And thank you for your response.

[grude]

Originally Posted by gymim

sorry for the ignorant response, but what does WAG mean? And thank you for your response.

WAG=Wild assed guess, sorry about that What I am saying is just contacting the business in question is probably the bst way to go about this, they could help you further. Like I said I have experience contacting companies by email for things not "offered" and some are willing and some aren't.

[dracoi]

WAG means "wild-assed guess"

I just happen to know something about the gaming industry from a few years ago. If you want to carry the product for resale, you need to find a distributor who handles those products, and who is a good fit for your area and needs. (Some have higher discounts, but expect higher volumes, for example).

I believe that http://www.greatergamesindustry.com is still the Bible of the gaming industry. It lists virtually all of the products and products codes that you'll want to use when ordering from your distributor. The catalog should also be a good resource for finding a distributor in the first place.

Re-reading your question, I see that you might be asking about buying the property rights, since this is a discontinued product. The licensing rights would allow you to produce the product yourself. There's no standard way to achieve that. You'll want your lawyer to contact White Wolf directly and get the negotiations started.

[gymim]

So 2 questions then:

1: What kind of lawyer am i looking for?

2: The product "Vampire: The Eternal Struggle" has copyrights/trademarks from 2 companies, CCP/WhiteWolf and Hasbro/WizardsOfTheCoast, involved with it. Any ideas on how I should handle that?

[friedo]

Originally Posted by gymim

So 2 questions then:

1: What kind of lawyer am i looking for?

An intellectual property lawyer.

2: The product "Vampire: The Eternal Struggle" has copyrights/trademarks from 2 companies, CCP/WhiteWolf and Hasbro/WizardsOfTheCoast, involved with it. Any ideas on how I should handle that?

You'd have to negotiate with both companies. Intellectual property deals can get very complicated.