JONESBORO (5/11/12) - The Arkansas State Athletics Department has announced a new division of its licensing program intended for those who hand paint or make items bearing any of the university's trademarked logos or terminology.
Beginning July 1, a Crafter's License would be required of anyone producing items bearing A-State's marks or logos in the following areas: Paintings, handcrafted products, window paintings, cakes and other decorated foods.
"The University has gone to great lengths to trademark its marks and logos, and the Crafter's Program is simply another way for us to help ensure that those marks are being used properly and only by licensed vendors," said Brad Bobo, Director of Broadcast, Licensing & New Media for Arkansas State Athletics. "As the popularity of these marks, particularly our Red Wolves logos, continues to grow, this program became a necessary step to take in order to continue to protect the University's trademarked properties."
Bobo said A-State patterned its Crafter's Program after those used at several other schools in the area.
"This is something more and more schools in the region are starting to do, so we were able to look at other programs and tailor their guidelines to what we felt we needed here at Arkansas State," he said. "This is another one of those growing pains that you welcome when your brand continues to gain notoriety and popularity."
The Collegiate Licensing Company has managed Arkansas State's licensing program since 1991-1992. In its first year with CLC, the school generated $8,400 in royalties. During the 2010-11 year, there was an estimated $2.1 million in retail sales of items bearing A-State's marks.
Bobo said the Crafter's Program would be run in-house and not through CLC.
"This is a much more low-cost license than those used for producing apparel and other licensed items," he said. "The point of this program isn't necessarily to generate revenue, but to make sure those who are producing items with our marks on them are going through the proper channels to do so."
The annual license fee for the Crafter's License is $100. In the first year, licensees are also required to purchase 250 hologram stickers to show their items are officially licensed. The cost of the holograms is $25. Anyone getting licensed now will not have their renewal come due until July 1, 2013.
For more information or to get a Crafter's License application, contact Brad Bobo at (870) 972-2682 or by e-mail at bbobo@astate.edu. Applications are also available online at www.AStateRedWolves.com under the Marketing tab.
