Silver Lining’s precocious piglet heads to Japan

Cosmo Merchandising has signed on as the Japanese licensing agent for Silver Lining book property Olivia. The book series was released in Japan last November by Asunaro Shobo Publishing and is already on its sixth print run. The newest title, Olivia Saves the Circus, was released in May, with an initial print run of 20,000–a coup in the Japanese book market. Cosmo will represent Olivia at the Tokyo Licensing Show (November 13 to 15, 2002) and is seeking upstairs partners in categories such as plush, apparel and stationery.

United Media goes global on Galidor

In a deal that extends United Media’s existing North American representation rights, Lego has granted the New York-based company global rights to CinéGroupe-produced tween series Galidor: Defenders of the Outer Dimension. United Media has already assigned agents in Europe (Copyright Promotions Licensing Group), Scandinavia (Plus Licens), Australia/New Zealand (Gaffney International) and Japan (UMKK).

Decode sharpens its Save-Ums merch strategy

Decode Entertainment has appointed The Sharpe Company as the international licensing agent (excluding North America) for 3-D superhero series The Save-Ums! Created by The Dan Clark Company (Brats of the Lost Nebula), the 26 x half-hour preschool action-adventure series is slated to debut in the U.S. next January on Discovery Kids’ Ready, Set, Learn block (on TLC and Discovery Kids Channel) and in Canada on CBC.

Irwin Toy gets ferocious with Maggie master toy rights

Nelvana has tapped Canadian toyco Irwin as master toy licensee for Nick Jr. preschool series Maggie and the Ferocious Beast. Irwin will roll out its Maggie line of figures, dolls, accessories, plush, role play interactive, play sets and activity kits in 2003. Based on the Simon & Schuster book by Betty and Michael Paraskevas, the series follows the adventures of five-year-old Maggie, a daydreamer who creates a fantasy world called Nowhere Land, home to creatures of her own imagination–including the polka-dotted beast Ferocious and well-mannered pig Hamilton.