Selling Unlicensed College Shirts

[Prosperi-Tees]

I was in our local Wal-Greens and CVS the other day and got to thinking, they have been selling shirts with our towns (Fresno State) name and logo on them especially during football season and wondered how are they doing this since it is unlicensed. The shirts do not have the hologram sticker nor have hangtags saying that it is official merchandise but it is definitely not a parody or anything. So how do they do it? I saw a couple boxes of shirts the last time I was in there and they were printed by a printer in Texas but I do not remember the name. I looked on the CLC website and the 2 companies that are licensed in Texas did not ring a bell but again the shirts do not have anything on them saying it is licensed merch. So how are they doing this?

[prozyan]

Simple. 

Either they are licensed and you don't know about it or they are not and haven't been caught yet.

[larryk]

When we signed our contract with Walgreens it stated in the contract that all Collegiate Wear had to be licensed and tagged. I would say the only way they are getting away with it is..... nobody has ratted them out yet! Or maybe there is a legit way to get around all that stuff that we don't know about. The manager of the store is probably not the one that orders the shirts but he may be able to supply you with the answer as to how they get away with it......... Good Luck and keep us posted as to what you find out. Inquiring minds want to know!

[3Deep]

or Wal-greens has a licensed deal with your school to sell in there store and they can pick whomever they want to print for them...I see college and high school stuff all the time in wal-mart and other places without the holograms hang tags.

[royster13]

http://www.gobulldogs.com/ot/fres-licensing.html

[Prosperi-Tees]

I want to sell merchandise bearing University trademarks. Do I have to be a licensed vendor?
If you wish to sell merchandise bearing University trademarks you produce, you must be a licensed vendor. However, if you wish to sell merchandise bearing University trademarks and do not produce any of the merchandise you are selling, you do not have to be a licensed vendor. With the proper business permits, anyone can sell officially licensed merchandise as long as it is purchased from a vendor licensed to produce emblematic merchandise for the University.

That answers the question on "officially licensed merchandise". I guess the question is can you buy officially licensed merchandise from a licensed vendor without any of the markings that are required of "officially licensed merchandise"

[IntegrityShirts]

I guess the question is can you buy officially licensed merchandise from a licensed vendor without any of the markings that are required of "officially licensed merchandise"

The answer is no, you cannot. The license holder is responsible for putting the hang-tag and holographic sticker on each garment. You could send the CLC an email and I'm sure they'd hop on it lol they seem like a company of lawyers just drooling for litigation and paychecks.  You should see the contracts you have to sign to be able to print, it's ridiculous.

[Frog]

I guess the question is can you buy officially licensed merchandise from a licensed vendor without any of the markings that are required of "officially licensed merchandise"

If you still have questions,
I suggest a quick phone call to get it straight from the horse's mouth.
For specific Fresno State licensing issues, they list Clarence Chiong as the man in charge, (559) 278-4451
For collegiate licencing matters in general, they list a number in Atlanta for that group.

[GaryG]

Once walked into a retail store in a mall in Detroit where they had tons
Simpson's clothing. Asked the worker, "How come some have copyrights
and some don't". I walked out of the store sitting a ways away, and they came out
in front of the store looking around, like oh crap! Who was that!? It was funny as could be.

Collegiate Licensing:
http://lrgusa.com

[tonypep]

I guess the question is can you buy officially licensed merchandise from a licensed vendor without any of the markings that are required of "officially licensed merchandise"

The answer is no, you cannot. The license holder is responsible for putting the hang-tag and holographic sticker on each garment. You could send the CLC an email and I'm sure they'd hop on it lol they seem like a company of lawyers just drooling for litigation and paychecks.  You should see the contracts you have to sign to be able to print, it's ridiculous.

No matter where I am, it seems Hot Market companies follow. Everytime there is a lengthy contract and capability paperwork. And they always end someone to watch you print and destroy the films and files. Even for Collegiate. So yes, they take it very seriously.

[3Deep]

Just got a stack of paper yesterday to fill out for the college we are doing biz with, funny though we don't fill out anything for the Junior college's, they call place order and we print, only the NCAA do we fill out paperwork.

darryl

[turnergraphics]

or Wal-greens has a licensed deal with your school to sell in there store and they can pick whomever they want to print for them...I see college and high school stuff all the time in wal-mart and other places without the holograms hang tags.

They are getting much tighter with this.  There have been too many lawsuits placed by high schools & they do not want the negative press.  (Walmart nor Walgreens carries licenses, it's all up to the vendor).

[tancehughes]

We just dropped our licenses. It's very tough to make any more with the smaller schools and very tough to get in with the larger schools. We still do work direct with a couple of the universities but I don't think we have to keep the license


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dottonedan]

It can be tricky with licenses from schools. They want a piece of the action (if any action).


Now, mind ya, I don't claim to be on top of licensing, but when I did, I had printed/sold (WVU) merch and I was the contractee, doing the design and marketing. I subbed the printing out. I still had to have a license and had the contractor info on my license. I just can't decide to stop using that printer and move on. Mind you, at that time, WVU was unique and acted independently from the whole "Collegiate Licensing Group". SO they had different agreements and I worked directly with one person (the only one) they had...and I was able to make more unique arrangements.


Back when I had looked into licensing for schools, The definition of the school came into play. For example, any school that is funded by government (cannot control licensing) since (we the people) fund those schools. It's our money that is paying for it. They are not PRIVATE/for profit schools and cannot prohibit the use of their logo/mascot. So, a public elementary, middle or High school cannot claim ownership nor prohibit someone from printing their school mascot or logo. That is similar to using images in print (of public access images) like The Space shuttle or photos from Nasa of the moon or of the world.


So, one might think that for that reason, STATE colleges would be included. That, I have no real answer to. It all depends on wether the word STATE in the name defines that it is funded by the state or if it's just a name.


I'm sure the next question would be, are they 100% funded thru the STATE tax payers money?  No. Students pay a tuition, but are they (for profit)?  A lot of questions and digging to see if one can really use the official logo without getting in trouble. Today, I'd wager that it's 100% controlled by the college and collegiate licensing.


Knowing Wal-Greens and CVS tho, even if it's not marked, it's licensed. The only problem there is (that it's not marked). It is licensed for sure tho, if it's in their stores. Someone (printer) just screwed the pooch on getting them tagged is all and eventually, that will come back to bite them once found out or if they continue. I'm sure the printer is indeed licensed.

[ScreenFoo]

^^I don't know about that Dan--when I did CLC, they were accounting sales by hangtags.  Sounds to me like someone's cutting someone out of a percentage, if they haven't changed their system.


FWIW, Greek symbols that are thousands of years old are protected.  Isn't that cool?

Yeah, I didn't think so either...