Voiume XCI Number 64
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University of Southern California
Thursday April 22, 1982
University paraphernalia means big bucks
But may raise revenues at students' expense
By Charla Foster
Staff Writer
Collegiate toilet seats, school-colored jelly beans, the old alumni tie, and everything else that carries college logos have turned school spirit into a multibillion-dollar industry that may raise university revenues, but at the university’s expense.
Driven by spiraling costs and shrinking budgets, this university, along with 25 other universities nationwide, have taken legal steps to cash in on what they call “rah-rah revenues” — profits that manufacturers make from selling college paraphernalia to the public.
Most universities maintain that they have a right to the revenues earned from products bearing their logos. They say that the school seals, mascots and nicknames that their athletic teams have popularized justify their piece of the profits.
But while universities reap an estimated S2.5 billion in college-store sales alone, those profits eat into the manufacturers’ gains. These companies are then forced to charge higher prices to retailers. Finally, these costs are passed on to the people who buy the paraphernalia — students.
Many universities have attempted over the past decade to strengthen their grip on these royalty rights by establishing collegiate licensing programs.
Through the licensing process, a university can legally control a manufacturer’s use of items which bear its school symbols. Licensing also enables a university to protect its name and. more important, to increase its income.
A university that licenses manufacturers protects its name by selecting potential licensees according to the quality of their products. Once selected, manufacturers must sign contracts and pay royalty fees — usually 6 percent of all gross sales.
According to Stephen Crossland, manager of the Trojan Bookstore and director of licensing at the university, profits look promising.
“At this university, the industry has grown from nothing—zero dollars — to the point that it’s getting the administration’s attention,” the director said.
Crossland, who refrained from estimating the annual royalties that the administration receives from licensed manufacturers, said that he started the university’s licensing program seven years ago, before most universities had ever heard of collegiate licensing.
“When I came to this university, we had one trash can manufac-
turer sending $5.95 to the public relations department even' 90 days,” he said.
“College goods were just not sold outside of campus bookstores in any significant amount.”
Now credited for licensing 35 manufacturers with the university. Crossland says that he has signed contracts for everything from cardinal-and-gold jelly beans to Trojan watches.
"The licensing program has been a good one to have, because college products are selling,” he said.
Crossland attributed the rise in college-good sales to the 28-member teams of the National Football League, which established a licensing program more than 20 years ago that helped make athletic wear popular.
He called this university one of the first institutions to follow in the big league’s footsteps.
Over the last two years, the majority of licensing schools have followed the university’s lead. Several of the 25 licensing universities estimate their profits at Si0,000.
“As long as the university has got quality products representing our name and servicing the consuming public, merchandisers are
(Continued on page 6)
This is the fourth in a series of articles focusing on university financial problems.
University could battle company over trademark rights dispute
By Charla Foster
Staff Writer
The nationwide search for college revenues may lead this university into a courtroom battle with a major manufacturing company that sells T-shirts bearing school names and symbols.
Champion Products Inc., one of the biggest producers of silk-screened T-shirts and college wear, recently filed papers against the university, after it refused to pay a 6.5 percent royalty fee for marketing USC goods.
The firm challenged the university on the grounds that it established prior usage of the school seal, mascot and name by having sold
USC products before the university trademarked its school symbols.
According to trademark law, a university gains the legal right to control the use of its name and school symbols by filing for state and federal trademark applications.
Champion claimed that the university “sat on its rights,” because the firm sold goods bearing the university's logos before USC trademarks existed.
In response to this claim, the university filed papers of its own in March.
(Continued on page 8)
ROBERT BLAKE
Actor/activist encourages halt to buildup of nuclear weapons
Marc Igler
Staff Writer
Never mind the profanity. Never mind his off-the-cuff style. Robert Blake got his point across Wednesday.
Speaking in support of the burgeoning anti-nuclear movement, the actor/activist urged university students to stop their passive resistance to further production of nuclear weapons in favor of “taking it to the streets.”
“You got the biggest job in the world ahead of you. The petition signing, and all that other shit, doesn’t do anything. When are you going to get off your ass?” Blake feverishly asked the crowd in front of Tommy Trojan.
The 48-year-old Blake, who recently became involved in the anti-nuclear movement, came to the university at the request of the campus chapter </> of the Students for Economic S; Democracy, a statewide organi-■§. zation committed to the belief § that citizens have the right to participate in the political and
>	economic decisions that affect their lives.
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5-	The goal of the noontime 1 rally was to gain support for S. the upcoming June 21 blockade of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, the national center for nuclear weapons develop-
ment, located 40 miles southeast of San Francisco.
“You’ve got to stop what we started in the '40s. Youth is where all the new thinking comes from. You’ve got to stop the arms race at the source,” Blake said in his encouragement of the scheduled blockade.
The actor dismissed President Reagan’s contention that nuclear superiority is the key to peace. Blake said that superiority threatened peace. He added that the Reagan administration’s attitude toward nuclear weapons will only “further cheat the present and future generations from pursuing the American Dream.”
Known for his tough-guy candor, Blake was particularly critical of the pseudo-concern he sees in the over-30 age group in their opposition to the nuclear arms race.
“All we do is make money, drink our booze, sign our petitions and talk a lot. As far as I’m concerned, anyone over 30 should be your enemies in this damn thing,” Blake said, as he called for a rebirth of a youth movement reminiscent of the 1960s.
Randy Ziskin, the president of the university chapter of the Students for Economic Democracy (SED), said that the pro-
test tactics scheduled for the June blockade of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory will rely on non-violence. In fact, the SED will sponsor a non-violence training session for the blockade at Santa Monica College on Saturday.
“We realize that a blockade of the laboratories will not be enough to stop the arms race. But that’s not the point. The point is that the government will be shown that it cannot continue building nuclear weapons without engaging in mass arrests of its citizens,” Ziskin said, citing the Feb. 1 blockade of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in which 173 persons were arrested.
Tamara Thompson, a spokesman for the Livermore Action Group, another organization which supports global disarmament, said that those arrested at the Feb. 1 blockade were given three choices for punishment— a $210 fine, a seven-day commitment to community work, or seven days behind bars.
“Come up to Livermore and get your ass busted. It's one of the greatest experiences in life,” said Blake, who was arrested last fall at the blockade of the Diablo Canyon nuclear reactor.