Trademark Licensing at UT Knoxville

Through a partnership with the Collegiate Licensing Company, the UT Knoxville Office of Trademark Licensing monitors commercial and internal use of the indicia (marks, names, logos) of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Use of any UT Knoxville trademarks or identifiers on merchandise or in connection with goods and services requires the express permission of UT Knoxville. This requirement applies to all students, alumni, staff, faculty, manufacturers, retailers and consumers.

What is a Trademark?

A trademark or service mark “includes any word, name, symbol, device, or any combination thereof, used or intended to be used to identify and distinguish the goods or services of one seller or provider from those of others” (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office).

The university owns a wide range of symbols, insignias, slogans, mottos, emblems, seals and word marks that have been in use for many years. UT Knoxville maintains a long-standing policy of protecting the marks associated with its name and its reputation as one of the nation’s premier universities. Because registered trademarks and service marks are valuable university assets, they must be used correctly to avoid loss of rights or dilution in the marketplace.

To view UT Knoxville’s official logos and trademarks, please refer to the following art sheets.

UT Knoxville (College Vault sheet)
UT Knoxville, Smokey (CLC Sheet)
UT Knoxville, Athletics (CLC Sheet)
UT Knoxville, Vintage (CLC Sheet)

Licensees & Retailers

Please note that the Office of Trademark Licensing attempts to keep an updated retailer database but cannot guarantee availability of Tennessee product at each store location. Please call your local chain store for accurate availability.

If your local retailer is not currently on the list provided below and you believe should be, please contact us at license@tennessee.edu to add the retailer’s contact information. Additionally, if your local chain does not carry Tennessee product, please encourage them to do so.

Retailers

Local Knoxville Stores

Big Box Stores Across Tennessee

  • Academy Sports & Outdoors
  • Bed Bath & Beyond
  • Belk
  • Costco Wholesale
  • Cracker Barrel
  • Dick’s Sporting Goods
  • Dollar General
  • Hibbett Sports
  • JCPenney
  • Kohl’s
  • Sam’s Club
  • Target
  • Walmart

Licensees

Internal Licensees

Community Connect Crafter Program

A Crafter is defined as an individual producing domestic handcrafted items in the home with collegiate marks and selling/distributing to individual consumers via events or direct sales. Sale sites include locations such as street festivals, craft fairs, gift marts, farmers markets, and online.

Before an individual or business may use the University of Tennessee’s logos and marks, formal permission must be granted through a license agreement. There are several types of licensing agreements to accommodate different licensee needs.

Guidelines

  • Sales may NOT exceed 500 units or a sales revenue of more than $2500.00 in a contract year.  For information on Formal Standard Licensing, refer to the Collegiate Licensing Company.
  • There is a yearly fee of $150 to be a part of this program.
  • Applicants must complete the Community Connect Crafter Application completely.
  • Applicants must submit a picture of each product intended for sale bearing the University’s logos or marks.
  • The crafter must display the Community Connect certificate (available to download on the Community Connect site once you become a crafter) with products intended for sale. CLC has decided to no longer provide the hologram stickers for the crafter program, so those are no longer available.
  • Crafters should always have their Crafter contract with them during sales of official University crafted products.
  • This license allows a Crafter to sell to individual consumers only. Sales of items on a wholesale basis to a third party are not permitted. All items must be handmade. No commercially manufactured items are allowed.

Exclusions

Product categories currently not permitted under the College Crafter Program. This list is not exhaustive and is subject to change.

  • T-Shirts, Sweatshirts, Jackets etc.
  • Cornhole boards and Accessories
  • Keychains
  • Decals
  • Hats
  • Hitch Covers
  • Powder Coated Tumblers
  • Digital Downloads

University Trademarks currently not permitted under the College Crafter Program:

  • College Vault Marks
  • Rocky Top® (includes verbiage and lyrics)

Applying:

Apply online by completing the College Crafter Program Application here. For any issues with the application itself, please reach out to communityconnect@clc.com.

  • A website is a requirement of the application, so if you do not have one, please put clc.com.
  • A tax id is a requirement of the application, so if you do not have one, please put 0’s in place.

Apply by Mail by downloading the College Crafter Program Application and mailing to:

UT Knoxville Office of Trademark Licensing
1551 Lake Loudon Blvd.
Lawson Athletic Center
Knoxville, TN 37996
license@utk.edu