Deals are sealed at license show

Hasbro Inc. is banking on its “Transformers” product license being golden enough to sell a $495 transforming jacket, and Mattel Inc. disclosed plans for girls to tee it up with Barbie golf clubs this week at the 2007 Licensing International show in New York.

Meanwhile, video game maker Nintendo Co. hopes the Super Mario Brothers franchise still carries enough cachet from its 1980s heyday to sell sneakers and candy. And NASCAR looks to have its fans buzzing with bottled wine bearing its name.

More than 23,000 retailers, brand owners and manufacturers gathered in search of the next big thing at a three-day event tailor-made for deal closings that will bring licensed products to market in 2008 and beyond.

During the show, Warner Bros. named Mattel as the master toy licensee for potential 2008 summer movie blockbusters “Speed Racer” and “The Dark Knight,” the next chapter in the “Batman” series.