12/4/01

New licensing company hired for logo products

Jessica Coomes
Daily Kent Stater

Kent State administrators hope not to have any more problems with school logo products being manufactured in sweatshops.

The university hired a licensing company, Licensing Resource Group, Nov. 14 to market its trademark items and handle licensing issues.

Until now, the job of licensing has been done in-house.

"This company is more in-tune with the issue of working conditions, which is most important for us," said James Watson, associate university counsel. "It has a sophisticated system for gathering information on vendors around the world, including any problem areas."

Licensing Resource Group, one of two major licensing companies in the country, will monitor the vendors who manufacture items with the Kent State logo. It will make sure the items are produced in fair working conditions and the vendors comply with the terms of their contracts with the university.

"Keeping eyes on licensing is something that definitely needs to be done because the workers' rights need to be looked out for," said Megan Zimmerman, a member of the Coalition for a Humane and New Global Economy.

The licensing company also will make sure businesses comply with the university's code of conduct, which it adopted last spring to ensure Kent State logo products are not produced in sweatshops.

Also, Watson expects the new company to help increase the sales at the university bookstore, Wal-Mart, DuBois and other places that sell Kent State logo items.

Eighteen years ago, the university decided to license its name and trademark to control the quality and types of products with its name on them.

"They (students) may see a larger variety of items with the Kent State logo on them, and we'll be getting much more reliable information on where items carrying the logo are manufactured," Watson said.

The changes will be noticeable next fall -- right now, the company and the university are going through a transition process. The contract is for three years.

According to its proposal, Licensing Resource Group said the benefits to the university include having "efficient day-to-day management, stronger brand equity and increased royalty revenue."

Licensing Resource Group performs similar work for more than 80 other universities, including the University of Akron, Miami University and Bowling Green State University, Watson said.

The licensing company also will perform audits for the university, collect royalties, check product quality and bring new vendors to the university.

"It helps to have someone overlooking and make sure things are running properly," Zimmerman said. "It (buying sweatshop items) will still be a problem. Hopefully, this will be a good first step in bringing changes in sweatshops. It's so widespread right now -- the use of sweatshops and the suppression of workers."

E-mail: jcoomes@kent.edu

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