UCLA gear is everywhere. Dedicated fans around the world can buy anything from clothing to condiments emblazoned with the university’s name and logo.
But while the UCLA brand is a lucrative source of income for the university, protecting it is an ongoing project.
UCLA Trademarks and Licensing, a division of Associated Students UCLA, is responsible for monitoring how university symbols are being used both in the U.S. and abroad.
More than 300 names and symbols associated with UCLA ““ including the letters themselves, the official script and the UCLA seal ““ are trademarked, according to the Trademarks and Licensing Web site. Anyone who wishes to use these symbols must obtain permission from the university in the form of a licensing agreement.
Cynthia Holmes, director of international licensing for UCLA, said the most common licensing requests, both in the U.S. and abroad, come from companies making sportswear such as sweatshirts and T-shirts.
However, UCLA has a particularly strong international presence, and products are often influenced by the culture of the country in which they are sold.
For example, in China, the demand is for higher-end menswear, she said. UCLA is regarded as a brand along the lines of Gap or Banana Republic, operating 65 retail stores throughout China. Rather than the typical collegiate sports attire sold in the U.S., these stores sell more business-casual clothing with understated university symbols.
UCLA has marketed itself fairly aggressively abroad and now licenses products throughout Europe, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and China, Holmes said.
“UCLA is well-recognized internationally. Particularly in Asia, UCLA has taken on almost a western culture iconic role,” she said.
Part of the draw is the university’s perceived connection to the laid-back Southern California lifestyle, she added.
Despite the demand, UCLA is selective in choosing licensees, Holmes said. Part of that selectivity has to do with the logistics of producing and marketing UCLA-branded goods internationally.
“It’s very challenging. You have to look at a company that has the financial backing to develop a product line,” she said. “We review (potential licensees) from the standpoint of what other brands have they worked with? What is their capacity to design? … What capacity do they have to get into the right retailers?”
According to the Trademarks and Licensing Web site, there are currently about 300 companies in the U.S. and abroad licensing UCLA symbols.
But as the UCLA brand has become more popular, the university has had to become increasingly vigilant about protecting its symbols.
“Infringement has a tendency to reflect the popularity of your brand,” Holmes said.
Trademark infringement occurs when someone uses a protected symbol without permission, but specific laws vary from country to country.
In the U.S., you do not necessarily have to register a symbol in order to have it be protected by trademark. Instead, simply proving that you have used the symbol is sufficient, said Betsy Rosenblatt, a fellow in intellectual property law at the UCLA School of Law.
Other countries, however, do require registration. Holmes noted that in “first to file” countries, whoever registers a symbol first owns it. In Brazil, for example, someone registered “UCLA” before the actual university did.
Still, Holmes said it would be impractical to take a just-in-case approach and register the university’s symbols in every country.
“It is expensive to register trademarks, so we have to be somewhat strategic,” she said.
UCLA typically registers for apparel first, since clothing represents the majority of licensed goods. The university also registers for educational services, though UCLA does not license educational services out. Holmes said the point of registering for educational services is to avoid confusing or deceiving consumers, noting that in one instance a company in Japan with no affiliation to UCLA was advertising a “UCLA English Language Institute.”
Rosenblatt said this is largely in keeping with the goal of trademarks.
“Trademarks exist to identify the source of a product or service,” she said. “The mark “˜UCLA’ exists to distinguish UCLA from any other institute of higher learning or from any other thing in the world. If someone else were allowed to use the UCLA mark, it would be damaging to educational consumers, donors and the university.”
Despite the measures in place to protect the mark, Holmes said infringement is still a major problem.
“We’ve had a tremendous amount of infringement in the Japanese market this year ““ at least 15 cases in the last 12 months,” she said, adding that there have also been a handful of cases in South Korea and Europe.
Whereas infringement abroad is more cyclical, rising or dropping in response to the popularity of the brand, in the U.S. it is “an ongoing issue,” Holmes said.
“It’s not like you walk down to Sports Authority and see unlicensed goods,” she said. Instead, the university tends to discover counterfeit goods being sold online or at athletic events.
Holmes noted that it is the act of selling unlicensed goods that attracts the legal wrath of the university ““ a student wearing a homemade T-shirt to a football game is safe.
Though extensive licensing has brought up a host of logistical and legal issues, Holmes said UCLA has been remarkably successful among colleges and universities at marketing its brand.
While other schools have been more susceptible to consumer trends, UCLA has maintained a more constant demand, she said.
“College as a fashion trend or statement goes in and out of fashion,” she said. “We’ve sustained … an ongoing brand whether or not college is “˜in’.”