Learn

Collegiate Brands

Are you aware that colleges use licensing companies to ensure fair use of their images and phrases? This type of branding through images and language is protected by the CLC Collegiate Licensing Company .

In recent years, the misuse of collegiate images has become quite an issue. Colleges and universities are actively pursuing the illegal use of copyrighted nicknames, logos, colors, mascots, images, etc. Cease-and-desist letters Sent to an individual or busines to stop unlawful activity. for this violation are increasingly issued to businesses, sports teams and even high school bands.

Did you know that The University of Alabama owns the rights to such phrases as "Roll Tide," and "Rammer Jammer," as well as 36 logos and symbols such as the university's seal and even the Alabama script "A". The University of Alabama is certainly not the only university, which fiercely fights to defend their branding images especially in this digital age.

In fact, there are many high schools and community sports teams that illegally use the same graphic as a college team. A few years ago, a central Alabama high school was notified that they had infringed on the original artwork of a university. The high school had basically used the same mascot with one minor change. The mascot artwork was still recognizable as the college team's graphic. Fortunately, the high school and university were able to work out an agreement without legal action.

If you are not the originator of a specific design, or if you do not own an image, then you should not use it in any manner without the express permission of the owner. The very definition of plagiarism is the claiming of ownership of another's work or ideas.

To avoid copyright and trademark issues, recent recommendations of the National Federation of High School Association include:

  • High schools should choose nicknames, logos, and mascots dissimilar from those being used by universities in their immediate geographic region and create highly distinctive logos, mascots to avoid confusion with any university.
  • High schools might be best served by trademarketing their nicknames, logos and mascots, and copyrighting all design-related artwork for logos and mascots.
  • High schools, upon receipt of a cease-and-desist letter from a university, should attempt to negotiate with the college for a low-cost license to continue using the images or to evaluate whether under the circumstances, a phase-out plan for old marks and a redesign process to create new marks is the best course of action.

Think about your high school mascot and branding images. Could they be easily compared to a college? Are you reminded of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, the Duke Blue Devils, or the Auburn Tigers? Can you think of other high schools that use an almost identical image to a college?