Craig Verley

One of the things I have always liked about being a part of the Texas School Public Relations Association (TSPRA) is the willingness of members to share their approaches and viewpoints on items that come up as a part of our jobs and responsibilities.

I was recently reviewing an older email from a TSPRA friend talking about districts continuing to stress trademarking school and district logos. This person feels that since the logos are basically paid for with public tax dollars, then the logos are owned by the public. They felt that keeping parents, small businesses, etc. from using logos on merchandise hurts those small enterprises, and even if a large corporation was involved, it was still positive brand recognition for the district/school.

Quite a few years ago, while working on updated logos for the school district and its three high schools, we pursued getting them trademarked through the state. We wanted to have some protection for those school/district identity images, and we also felt it would offer us a way to control how the images were used to a certain extent. Now having said that, it is important to “read the room,” so to speak, should you trademark your logos and decide to strictly license their use. In the case of my community, we knew it would not be in our best interest to make our small local businesses pay for using the logos. The pushback would have had some serious consequences. However, it did lead to a national firm that provides school spirit clothing to a couple of big box stores in town to reach out to us to enter into a paid licensing agreement. It may not have resulted in a big check to the district each year, but it was still helpful.

School board candidates in our area had a history of using district and high school logos on their campaign signs and materials. After we trademarked the logos, we put a stop to that. Political races can often get negative and having our district and school identities tied to any candidate just did not sit well. We felt it was important to keep our logos out of the political fray. So, with the first election cycle after receiving the trademarks, a short notice was created letting candidates know that the logos were trademarked and asking that the logos not be used in any campaign materials or advertisements of any kind. The notice has since become a regular part of an information packet provided to candidates as they pick up ballot applications.

If you do not already have your logos trademarked, you will need to be prepared to provide a few samples of how the logos have been used to represent your district and/or school. Please note, I said how the logos have been used; not how they will be used. You must have already been using the logos before you can go for the state trademark, unless something has changed recently in those requirements. If you can, get some help from your legal counsel in preparing and sending the trademark applications to the state. Then, once you have them marked, it is not a forever type of thing. A renewal will be required in a few years. There is also a small fee involved in applying for the trademark.

So, is getting that logo trademarked something you want to pursue? Have those pros and cons discussions with your team and superintendent. Then make sure to think through community responses and impacts to any enforced licensing demands. Is that a battle worth fighting? Each community is a little different so those discussions will be important.