school name/team name/colors

[ncbill]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? North Carolina
considering starting a picture frame business retail/wholesale. The frames would have a mat designed with school(HS/college) name/team name and school colors. The font is from word, no logos. Would this be a copyright violation?
thanks/Bill

 

[proud_parent]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? North Carolina
considering starting a picture frame business retail/wholesale. The frames would have a mat designed with school(HS/college) name/team name and school colors. The font is from word, no logos. Would this be a copyright violation?
thanks/Bill

Many school names and team names, particularly at the collegiate level, are trademarked. In order to use those marks for commercial purposes, you would be required to enter into a royalty-bearing license agreement with the school.

Under the terms of a licensing agreement, the school's licensing office likely would have final approval over the graphics used in your product, as well as the right to inspect samples for quality prior to distribution.