Stomp! Stomp! Rhinos! is moving from screens into consumer products. OAK9 Entertainment has signed Mad Engine Global as a licensee for the preschool franchise, covering children’s apparel, accessories, and drinkware in the United States, Canada, and EMEA, including the UK. Products are expected to begin appearing on ecommerce platforms in the coming months.
The deal arrives as the franchise builds a broader international presence. Its YouTube Kids channel has surpassed 11 million views in under a year, OAK9 recently partnered with Crayola, and Boat Rocker Studios is expanding distribution across multiple international markets. OAK9 is also meeting with prospective licensing and merchandising partners as it looks toward additional product categories and territories.
For a growing brand, that transition creates a legal question that goes beyond merchandising: how can a company allow another business to use its brand without giving up control over what the brand represents? The answer starts with the licensing agreement and the trademark strategy supporting it.
The Mad Engine Deal Turns Entertainment IP Into Consumer Products
OAK9 has been building toward consumer product licensing for some time. In 2025, the company appointed licensing executives to oversee expansion into categories including toys, games, publishing, food and beverage, apparel, stationery, and location based experiences. The franchise also secured a worldwide distribution agreement with Boat Rocker Studios.
Mad Engine now becomes an important part of that strategy. The company describes itself as a global consumer products business with more than 250 licenses and experience producing licensed apparel and accessories. For OAK9, the agreement creates a way to extend Stomp! Stomp! Rhinos! beyond television and digital content without having to build its own apparel manufacturing and distribution operation.
That is one of the central commercial purposes of brand licensing. A brand owner can give another company permission to use specified intellectual property for defined products, markets, and periods of time. In return, the brand owner can receive royalties or other compensation while keeping ownership of the underlying intellectual property.
The important word is defined. A license should make clear what Mad Engine may use, what products it may place the property on, where those products may be sold, and how long those rights last. It should also address whether the rights are exclusive, whether additional licensees can enter related categories, and what happens to unsold merchandise when the agreement ends.
A Licensing Agreement Also Functions as Brand Protection
Licensing a children’s franchise involves more than allowing a manufacturer to print characters on clothing. Every licensed product can affect how consumers perceive the original brand.
That makes approval rights particularly important. A brand owner may want contractual authority to review product designs, packaging, advertising, character artwork, marketing materials, and other uses of its intellectual property before those materials reach consumers. Clear approval procedures help prevent a licensee from using characters, logos, or other brand elements in ways that conflict with the owner’s intended image.
Quality control has a legal dimension as well. U.S. courts have recognized that trademark owners licensing their marks must maintain adequate control over the quality of the goods or services offered by licensees. When an owner allows another party to use a trademark without sufficient quality control, sometimes called “naked licensing,” the owner’s trademark rights can be put at risk.
For a preschool property, those controls have obvious practical value. A parent who purchases a Stomp! Stomp! Rhinos! shirt or accessory is likely to associate the product with the franchise, even though another company manufactured it. Product quality, packaging, advertising, and presentation can therefore affect the reputation attached to OAK9’s brand.
The same principle applies across the consumer products and manufacturing sector. When another company is authorized to manufacture products carrying a brand’s name or characters, the contract can become an important part of the brand protection strategy.
International Licensing Requires an International Trademark Strategy
The geographic reach of the Mad Engine agreement adds another layer. The announced license covers the United States, Canada, and EMEA, including the UK. Those territories create commercial opportunities, but they also illustrate why licensing strategy and trademark portfolio management should develop together.
Trademark rights are territorial. There is no single worldwide trademark registration. International systems such as the Madrid Protocol can make it easier to seek protection in multiple countries, but each designated jurisdiction ultimately applies its own trademark law when deciding whether protection will be granted.
A growing brand should therefore compare its licensing plans against its trademark portfolio. If apparel, accessories, toys, drinkware, or other consumer products are part of the expansion strategy, the company should consider whether its existing applications and registrations cover the relevant goods and markets. Similar issues arose in Nautica’s licensing expansion into Brazil, where expanding into a new market required careful attention to licensing rights, trademark protection, and control over how the brand would be used.
This becomes more important as additional licensees enter the picture. Poorly defined territories or product categories can create overlap between partners. Gaps in trademark protection can also make enforcement harder when unauthorized merchandise appears in a market the brand is actively entering.
For Stomp! Stomp! Rhinos!, the Mad Engine agreement is especially interesting because OAK9 is continuing to pursue additional licensing and merchandising opportunities. Each new deal can increase the reach of the franchise, but it also makes coordination of categories, territories, approvals, and intellectual property rights more important.
strategic By Design: The Juris Law Group, P.C. Perspective on Brand Licensing
Our licensing and brand protection attorneys assess licensing agreements as part of the brand’s broader growth strategy. That means defining the intellectual property, products, territories, sales channels, approval rights, quality standards, and enforcement responsibilities clearly enough to protect the brand while giving the licensee room to build the business.
The same principle guides our practice: Bigger is not better, better is better®. More licensees, categories, or territories do not automatically create a stronger licensing program. A focused agreement that preserves brand control and leaves room for future growth can carry greater long term value.
Over the next 12 months, OAK9’s licensing activity bears watching. Mad Engine is the franchise’s first apparel licensee, but OAK9 has already identified a much broader consumer products strategy. If the franchise continues adding partners, the legal task will increasingly involve managing how those separate agreements fit together across products, territories, marketing rights, and distribution channels.
The broader lesson extends beyond entertainment. As emerging brands move into collaborations and licensed products earlier in their growth, licensing agreements become part of long term portfolio management rather than simply a way to generate merchandise revenue. Companies that anticipate future categories and markets before signing their first major license are better positioned to expand without creating unnecessary conflicts over who may use the brand, where, and for what.
Common Legal Inquiries
What should a brand licensing agreement cover?
A licensing agreement should clearly identify the intellectual property being licensed, permitted products, geographic territory, sales channels, duration, exclusivity, approval procedures, quality standards, payment obligations, and termination rights. It should also address remaining inventory and the licensee’s ability to continue using brand materials after the agreement ends.
Does a company need trademark registrations before licensing its brand?
A trademark can potentially be licensed without a federal registration, but registration can provide important legal advantages. For brands expanding internationally, protection should be considered market by market because trademark rights are territorial. A company’s trademark portfolio should ideally anticipate the products and markets included in its licensing strategy.
Why is quality control important in a trademark license?
A licensed product carries the reputation of the brand whose trademark appears on it. Trademark owners therefore need meaningful oversight of how licensed marks are used and the quality associated with them. Inadequate control over a licensee’s use of a trademark can create legal problems and can also weaken consumer trust in the brand.
