Licensers eye 2008 opportunities

June 19, 2007 Charles Riotto, president of LIMA, the licensing industry's worldwide trade organization and sponsor of the Licensing Show, said he was expecting 2007 to be the biggest year ever for sales of entertainment-based licensing merchandise because of all the blockbuster movies we've had this year and all the ones that are still to come like 'Transformers,' 'The Simpsons Movie,' and 'Ratatouille.' Riotto is also set to report at the show Tuesday that U.S. retail sales of licensed product were up 1.5% in 2006 to $108.7 billion, a slightly smaller increase than the 1.8% rise reported in 2005. U.S. retail sales of entertainment-based licensed product rose 2% in 2006 to $48.2 billion, up from $47.3 billion in 2005, when sales rose 2.4%.

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