An Introduction to Licensing II Embroidery Project

Just because something is protected by copyright or trademark law doesn’t mean that you can’t get access to it. Licensing is a process that allows a person to purchase the rights to use a protected property. Such purchase may come in the form of a one-time fee, royalties or both. The Licensing Agreement will define when, where and how the licensee can use the property.

Some universities prefer to handle licensing internally. In this case, you would typically start with the Office of Business or Legal Affairs for the specific university. They should be able to direct you from there. Though each institution is different, many of them only charge an annual fee for a license.

Professional sports leagues and teams are a different matter altogether. NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB offer very limited opportunities for embroiderers and the costs are usually out of the range for a typical shop. A much more affordable alternative is minor league sports, including baseball and soccer. A typical license for one of these teams is done directly through the team, rather than the league and the costs tend to be more on the scale of college sports.

Another area of extreme popularity in the licensing arena is stock car racing. Don’t think that just because a driver’s name is made up of common words that it can’t be protected. Richard Petty can certainly trademark his name in regards to his activities. If you have a customer who also has the name Richard Petty, you can certainly embroider his name on a jacket, as long as there is no implication that this is representative of the racer: for example, including a picture of a certain racing car or adding the car number. These are unique identifying characteristics associated with the driver, thus using them in conjunction with the name would certainly make an implication that the Richard Petty in questions was the famous driver.

Licensing also extends to products, movies, celebrities, etc. However, these agreements tend to be very exclusive and limited to just a few vendors.

Perhaps the most common area of licensing in the imprinted apparel industry is college sports. The majority of the large universities are handled by The Collegiate Licensing Company (www.clc.com). CLC is essentially a licensing agent. Rather than working through the university or college, you would apply for a license through them. A typical license (upon approval) involves an advance fee usually in the range of $200 - $800. This is followed by royalties on the sales of garments with the approved logos, usually in the 6% - 8% range. The process is comprehensive and detailed, but it is open to virtually any business, though approval is not guaranteed. A complete list of member institutions and fee schedules can be found on the CLC website.