More universities haggling with high schools over trademarks

By Christian Boone

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

High schools that share logos with universities may soon find themselves shopping for new mascots.

Special In the above and below photos, Salem HIgh School's team emblem and helmet (left) share a striking resemblance to those of Florida State University's football team.

Special Rockdale County's Salem High and Memorial Middle schools were served with a cease and desist letter from Florida State University last August regarding their use of the name, "spear design and Seminole head."

Enlarge photo

Alexander Acosta, AJC Special Fairburn's Creekside High could be one of the metro schools impacted by the FSU lawsuit regarding the use of its Seminoles "spear design" logo.

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Florida State, which last week reached a settlement with the Rockdale County Board of Education prohibiting Salem High and Memorial Middle from using the Seminoles logo, isn't the only university aggressively protecting its trademark.

The Atlanta-based Collegiate Licensing Company, acting on behalf of the University of Florida, sent a similar letter to two Palm Beach, Fla., high schools last fall. And the University of Mississippi forced a Tennessee high school to drop its mascot of 50 years, Colonel Reb, due to trademark infringement claims.

"If we do not protect the trademark, someone could deface our logo and there's not a thing we could do about it," said Liz Maryanski, interim Vice President for University Relations at FSU. The university is in the midst of a legal battle with a Detroit semi-pro football team over its use of Seminoles, though the franchise, which adopted the logo 16 years ago, said it doesn't sell any merchandise with the disputed logo.

Neither does Salem High or Memorial Middle, but Maryanski said that FSU "has to be more proactive," noting there is now a high school licensing agency in California.

She insisted the agreement would be cost-neutral to the schools, noting that Salem, for example, has until 2016 to remove the Seminoles likeness from its walls and floors. The school's football helmets, however, are required to change "on or before August 1, 2011," according to the agreement.

"We let [the Rockdale County Board of Education] set the timelines," Maryanski said.

The agreement was ratified by the school board last Thursday after members concluded that fighting FSU in court would've cost Rockdale County some $250,000, according to the board's attorney.

"It was a matter of principle for me," said board vice chairwoman Jean Yontz, who cast one of two dissenting votes. "We're not making money off the the Seminoles, but now we're going to have to take money away from education to pay for this."

It's unclear just how many universities and colleges have targeted high school usage of their logos. CLC, the oldest and largest collegiate licensing agency in the nation, did not respond to interview requests.

UGA spokesman Tom Jackson said that while the university "aggressively pursues" trademark infringement issues, "high school booster clubs are not a priority."

"It's not something we're considering at this time," Jackson said, though he wouldn't rule it out in the future. "If we end up talking to high schools, we'd do it as a good citizen."