July 16, 2024
K-State Licensing Update
It's that time of year when many of you are working with vendors to print 4-H t-shirts and other K-State Research and Extension gear. During this, you might have heard mumbles or received updates concerning K-State's licensing agreement from vendors. To help clear some confusion surrounding K-State's licensing stipulations, I sat down with our licensing department director to answer some frequently asked questions.
The application and royalty fees went up this year, are they going to continue to go up every year?
No. The recent application fee increase was the first rate increase in six years. The fee was raised to accommodate the cost of doing business in 2024 as compared to 2018.
Royalty fees increased to 16%. As compared to other university's royalty fees which hover around 20-25%, this is still relatively low. However, your program or 4-H clubs might notice some of these rate increases reflected in the cost of t-shirts and/or goods.
Why aren't our designs getting approved?
The university maintains strict brand standards when it comes to approving designs. Approved university colors can be found in their brand guide (pg. 27). Green will always be considered an approved color for 4-H-related designs. When it comes to blue and red however, the university is unlikely to approve designs with either of these as the predominant color.
If designs do not adhere to these standards, they will have difficulty making it through the approval process.
What about lavender? Is this an approved university color?
At this time, the university does not recognize lavender as a "brand" color. Despite seeing this hue used in athletic wear, the color is not approved with designs that contain any campus affiliated trademarks.
For more information on K-State's trademark licensing, visit https://www.k-state.edu/logos/.