Licensing
Introduction
The Johns Hopkins University name and marks are some of our most important assets. They immediately identify us as one of the world’s leading research universities. All members of our university community have a responsibility to protect and promote our brand in a manner consistent with our reputation of academic and research excellence.
The Johns Hopkins Trademark Licensing Program helps protect and promote our brand by ensuring that the public can properly identify and associate the university’s name and logos with officially licensed products that have been approved by the university. The university requires that all members of the university community (faculty, students, staff, and alumni), as well as all external manufacturers and vendors, obtain approval before producing any product that displays the Johns Hopkins name or logos.
In addition to these licensing guidelines, please review the university branding guidelines and use of name guidelines for more specific information regarding use of the university name and logos.
Licensing agent
Johns Hopkins University uses CLC as its primary licensing agent. CLC:
- facilitates the licensing process for licensees;
- executes licensing agreements;
- markets the university brand to potential manufacturers;
- monitors the marketplace for unlicensed use of trademarks;
- Collects royalties, and
- Conducts compliance review audits of licensed manufacturers.
To produce products bearing the marks of Johns Hopkins University, manufacturers and vendors must be a licensee of the university. To get started, click on the link below to download an application packet. The application contains instructions on how to complete the application phase of licensing as well as information that licensees will need to retain throughout the course of the licensing process. All licensees are required to remit royalty reports and payments on a quarterly basis to CLC, who collects these payments on behalf of Johns Hopkins University. Johns Hopkins University has established a royalty rate of 10% of the wholesale price of an individual product. Information on the services CLC provides, including a copy of an application and license agreement, can be found at clc.com.
License types
The university offers two types of licenses:
- Retail – Allows a company to produce products bearing the trademarks of collegiate institutions for sale at retail in approved retail channels and direct to consumer, as well as university departments and related entities.
- Internal – Allows a company to produce product bearing the trademarks of collegiate institutions for university departments and related entities for internal consumption only; cannot provide product at retailer direct to consumer.
License and royalty fees
For bookstore vendors:
- $250 annually for apparel vendors
- $150 annually for headwear vendors
- $100 annually for non-apparel vendors
- Royalty fee: 0 percent (University B&N Bookstore sales)
For off-campus retailers:
- Standard licenses: annual license fees above and 10 percent royalty
- Restricted license: $150 annual fee; no royalty payments
- One-time-use license: no fees or royalty payments
Please contact CLC at licensing@clc.com to obtain licensing.
Approved licensees
All manufacturers and vendors currently licensed to produce merchandise using the Johns Hopkins University official logos can be found on the CLC website.
Face coverings
The university is requiring a review of all face covering requests. To begin this process, please reach out to Meg Magagna at mlm@jhu.edu.