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Thank you for your interest in applying for a trademark license from Carnegie Mellon University.
Companies and individuals wishing to use our trademarks
are required to enter into a non-exclusive trademark license agreement
with the university. During the
month of June we concentrate on servicing our current licensees. Each of their contracts will
expire on June 30; therefore, no new licensing agreements will be issued
to new suppliers until after July 1. We appreciate your patience
during this time period.
Carnegie Mellon takes Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) seriously
and has adopted a Code of Workplace
Conduct for our trademark licensees as recommended by our University
Task Force on Anti-Sweatshop Labor. This Task
Force, at the request of President Jared Cohon, crafted the code, and
recommended we join both the Fair Labor
Association (FLA) and the Worker
Rights Consortium (WRC). This recommendation was approved by our
President's Council on April
12, 2002. Please understand the Code of Workplace Conduct
requirements are a major component of our licensing agreements and should
be carefully reviewed and understood before proceeding to Step 1 of our
licensing process.
Carnegie Mellon became the 175th University to join the FLA and the 98th
University to join the WRC; therefore, we require detail disclosure of
factory locations as a contractual obligation. Factory location
information must include domestic and overseas facilities. If all
imprinting, embroidery, etc. is done in-house, a list of companies where
blanks are ordered must be supplied. Please be aware that this
information will not be considered confidential and will be given out to
the FLA,
WRC and other interested parties. Full factory disclosure is required 30
days after the execution of the contract.
Full implementation of these requirements went into effect on July 1,
2002; therefore, all our current and interested Trademark Licensees are
now required to affiliate with the FLA
prior to executing their licensing agreements. Companies are encouraged
to review the FLA site or contact their Washington DC
office at the FLA,
202/898-1000. If you have already applied to the FLA, which many of you have, an
additional application is not necessary just for Carnegie
Mellon—one application covers all universities who require FLA participation.
Once our Code and the FLA
requirements have been reviewed, interested companies should begin our
three (3) step licensing process, which consists of:
Step 1
Complete and return the product proposal/company profile, current sales
literature, product sample if requested, and a non-refundable $100
licensing fee. The licensing fee will not be applied towards future
applicable royalty payments. This fee should not be charged back to
Carnegie Mellon. The product proposal will then be reviewed and if
approved the applicant enters Step 2. If all the documents required in
"Step 1" are not returned within thirty (30) calendar days from
the date of introductory letter, the Trademark Licensing Office will
assume a company is no longer interested in using our trademarks. If a
company has a renewed interest in obtaining a license after one (1)
calendar year from the date of this letter, they will be required to
submit an additional licensing fee.
Link here for a copy of the Product
proposal.
Step 2
A non-exclusive licensing agreement is forwarded to the applicant. The
applicant then signs the agreement and returns it to Carnegie Mellon with
a certificate of insurance which meets all requirements listed in the
contract. All Agreements expire on June 30 of each year regardless of
their initial execution date. A renewal may or may not be offered for an
additional year.
Our royalty rate is 8% of the manufacturer's
net selling price on all products bearing the marks of the university.
Only sales to university departments or recognized student organizations
are royalty exempt with few exceptions. As of July 1, 2005 Carnegie Mellon’s University Store
royalty exemption status was removed. The royalty percentage on products
sold to the University Store is 8%.
Step 3
A fully executed copy of the agreement is returned to the new licensee. The
licensee also receives camera ready artwork, sales history/royalty forms,
design/sample approval forms, and labeling
information. The licensing process is then complete. All agreements are
usually renewed annually and are valid from July 1 through June 30. All
agreements expire on June 30 regardless of when they were originally
signed, so in some cases the first contractual agreement term my be less
than twelve months.
Note: The Trademark Licensing Office must
approve all artwork/designs in writing prior to manufacturing a product.
No design will be approved prior to the completion of the licensing
process.
We realize the requirements of the Code of Workplace Conduct may cause
you to reconsider your interest in establishing a relationship with
Carnegie Mellon; however, only by virtue of a license granted by The
Trademark Licensing Office will you be able to legally use our name and
related trademarks.
You are encouraged to be thorough in your completion of the licensing
process in order to avoid unnecessary delay. If you have any questions,
please do not hesitate to contact Carnegie Mellon's Trademark Licensing
Office (412) 268-3904 or marano@andrew.cmu.edu.
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