Is Licensing Really a $369.9 Billion Industry?
Then Why Is It Still Measured by Surveys?
A published practitioner–scholar research paper by Nathen Mazri argues that the global licensing industry needs a census-level, SKU-level metadata system — not fragmented reports, delayed surveys, manual royalty files, and disconnected marketplace data.
Published in les Nouvelles, June 2026 issue — by the Licensing Executives Society International.
If Licensing Is Worth $369.9B, Where Is the Census?
The licensing industry is measured through annual surveys and fragmented reporting — yet SKU-level product reality lives scattered across marketplaces, retailers, licensees, approval portals, royalty PDFs, and isolated territory databases.
This paper argues that licensing needs a shared intelligence layer — a backbone in the spirit of ISBN for books, ISRC for music, DOI for research, and GS1 for global commerce. Without it, the industry remains opaque, vulnerable, and uncountable.
The Industry Has Rights. But It Lacks a Shared Metadata Backbone.
Licensed products do not have a universal SKU-level intelligence system connecting IP owners, licensees, retailers, marketplaces, customs, consumers, and royalty reporting.
A Three-Year Practitioner–Scholar Study
Combining academic rigor with operational fieldwork — across territories, marketplaces, licensees, and licensed product lifecycles.
What the Research Revealed
This Is Not Just Data. It Is IP Control.
When licensors gain SKU-level visibility, the consequences ripple across enforcement, royalty reconciliation, and consumer trust.
From Manual Licensing to AI-Powered Governance
eGeez is building AI-powered infrastructure for the global licensing industry — connecting licensee verification, agreement parsing, SKU-level metadata, marketplace visibility, geofencing, and royalty traceability into a single intelligence layer.
A New Layer for Customs, Governments, and Anti-Counterfeiting Policy
A centralized, SKU-level metadata system could help customs authorities, governments, and enforcement agencies authenticate licensed products, identify counterfeit goods at scale, and enforce digital-commerce compliance across jurisdictions.
Combined with AI-driven verification, the licensing industry can move from reactive enforcement to proactive deterrence — protecting IP owners, retailers, marketplaces, and consumers in parallel.
Download the Full Research Paper
Read Nathen Mazri's published les Nouvelles June 2026 paper on SKU-level licensing metadata, data fragmentation, AI infrastructure, territorial compliance, royalty governance, and the future of global licensing intelligence.
Download PDFPublished — les Nouvelles · June 2026
Nathen Mazri
Nathen Mazri is a licensing executive, entrepreneur, researcher, and AI infrastructure visionary with over 15 years of experience across global licensing, branding, franchising, retail, and intellectual property commercialization.
He is the Chief Value Officer of eGeez Inc., the holding company behind eGeez Technologies and eGeez World, focused on modernizing the global licensing industry through AI-powered infrastructure, metadata intelligence, royalty transparency, and territorial compliance.
A former entertainment licensee and licensing operator, Nathen has worked with major rights holders and global brands while also pioneering licensed IP real estate through his “Entergagement” vision at eGeez World. He is currently pursuing legal studies at the University of London. Nathen is the author of the published peer-reviewed research in les Nouvelles by the Licensing Executives Society International.
Over the past several years, he has invested into AI, software, and data infrastructure to help solve one of licensing's largest structural gaps: the absence of unified licensing intelligence addressing governments and IP owners.