A snarling wildcat head on the front of a hoodie or the interlocking "NLR" letters on a ball cap are putting money in the bank for the North Little Rock School District and, from there, into the hands of teachers in the form of grants.
The symbols most closely associated with the North Little Rock School District, including the words "North Little Rock Charging Wildcats" and "Charging Wildcats," have been trademarked.
And the use of those protected logos and words by newly licensed vendors of T-shirts, stadium cushions and other approved North Little Rock School District-tagged merchandise is generating revenue that the district will award to teachers to enhance student learning.
The first recipients of grants of up to $1,000 each will be named in January.
North Little Rock Superintendent Kelly Rodgers said he is pleased with the new licensing program, although he and his staff have had to do some explaining to critics about how the money will be used.
"I'm excited to be able to say that the money is going back to the campuses," Rodgers said.
Royalties on the merchandise produced a check of $3,250 in September, and another quarterly check will arrive in December, greasing the wheels for the forthcoming awarding of the grants.
The grant application deadline this year is Dec. 11. The rules for the NLRSD Trademark Agreement Grant, which are posted on the district's website, say the money "should be used for supplementary materials that are not covered in the regular school budget."
Trademarks, licensed vendors and royalties are common in higher education but not so in Arkansas' public kindergarten through 12th-grade school districts.
North Little Rock resident Jim Wyatt, a defense attorney and co-founder of the new Amateur Sports Licensing LLC, said he has heard of informal agreements between vendors and school districts, but is unaware of any other "full-service" company similar to his in this state.
The company that Wyatt and business partner Shawn Fecher, also of North Little Rock, started will assist districts in acquiring the trademarks for their symbols, licensing of merchandise vendors, collecting royalties for use of the trademark on products and policing the use of trademarks.
The North Little Rock district is the company's first client, Wyatt said, but he expects the client list to grow as school districts realize there is revenue that can be captured for the benefit of students and teachers.
Vendors who want to sell items with North Little Rock district indicia must apply for and acquire a license from the company and pay royalties. The license is $250 for a three-year period, Wyatt said. Royalties amount to 15 percent of the price of an item. That is paid on either the wholesale or the retail price, depending on the specific scenario.
"If you make it and sell it, the royalty is on the retail price. If you are buying it from someone else to sell it, the royalty is based on the wholesale price," Wyatt said.
There are exceptions for purchases of athletic uniforms used by the schools, for products used in school fundraisers and for products used by a school or the internal use of the symbols.
Unlicensed vendors of items with the trademarked symbols or similar symbols could be asked to stop or, if necessary, subjected to a legal challenge.
The partnership between the district and Amateur Sports Licensing was born of a girls' golf team accident and a conversation Wyatt had with North Little Rock district Athletic Director Gary Davis.
Wyatt's daughter was hit in the head with a golf ball last year, Wyatt said, causing him to have to sign some paperwork in Davis' office. Davis asked Wyatt, a lawyer, about how to protect the district's logos.
That led to more conversations, the forming of Amateur Sports Licensing and, finally, North Little Rock School Board approval in December 2014 of a contract with the company.
Brian Brown, the district's finance director, said Davis and other district leaders see the wildcat head superimposed on a lightning bolt, the interlocking NLR letters and other symbols as property of the the district. As such, Brown said, the district should have a say in how they are used. But vendors with no connection to the school district were selling products with the logos.
"There was a source of revenue that was being missed because the school was not benefiting from the sale of its marks," Brown said in a recent interview. "It's the same idea as on the collegiate level -- you want your marks and your brand protected. We also wanted to make sure we had a say in how our marks are used and what products they are put on. This agreement with ASL protects not only the sale of the marks but how they are used."
The district owns the logos.
"We are an agent for the district," Wyatt said. "We do not have any ownership interest in the logos. The vendor doesn't own them. It is the intellectual property of the school district."
Wyatt said he is anxious now to see how the grant money resulting from the royalties is used.
"I'm not involved in that part of it," he said. "But I've got kids in the North Little Rock district. I see what activities they participate in. When you get away from some of the big sports, the activities don't have budgets. Kids who are involved in medical professions or robotics don't have budgets to go to a competition. Kids who are involved in that are just as excited as a kid who plays on the football team.
"It makes me feel good to be part of it," he said.
He also applauded the participating vendors -- B.E.E. Promotional Products, Cool Caps, Greek4Life, JK Athletics and Print Connections -- that are listed on the district's website: nlrsd.org.
"Without them it doesn't work," Wyatt said. "They are doing it the right way and by them doing it the right way, the kids are the winners."
Metro on 11/28/2015