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The United States Marine Corps has, through its Trademark and Licensing Office (TLO), served notice to the army/navy store marketplace that it will now require manufacturers of USMC-branded merchandise to submit items for approval and upon approval, to pay a licensing fee and to properly mark products with a USMC-approved label. This is applicable to all companies that sell merchandise with the name, initials or emblem (eagle, globe and anchor) of the United States Marine Corps.

Licensing royalties collected from industry suppliers will be used to cover program costs and to fund morale, welfare and recreation activities for Marines.

The TLO also stipulated that all officially licensed USMC products must be identified with a hang tag that is available from the J.Patton company (www.jpattonsports.com).

Representatives from the TLO will be attending the Army Navy Military Expo in January, 2011 at the Tuscany Suites and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada to meet with interested parties to discuss the new licensing requirements. Companies that do not sell, or plan to sell USMC branded merchandise are not affected by these new requirements.

The new program stems from Congressional authorization given in 2007 to Department of Defense agencies to license their trademarks, although all government insignia have been protected by statutes and regulations for decades.

There is a website, www.marines.mil/trademark, which contains valuable information about the program and a sample of the licensing agreement that must be filled out by any company seeking to be in compliance with the new program. The TLO notes that the approval process takes approximately three months, so that any suppliers planning on offering USMC branded merchandise at the Expo in January should begin the approval process soon.

Minimum requirements to initiate the licensing process include:
• a minimum of three years’ experience in manufacturing and distribution;
• an upfront payment of $1,000 and the ability to generate $5,000 in annual sales to meet the royalty guarantee;
• maintaining product liability insurance with a $1,000,000 individual/$2,000,000 aggregate limit;
• compliance with all federal, state and local laws, including all applicable labor laws.

There are waivers available for those meeting certain requirements, but none by most commercial standards.