National Collegiate Athletic Association

Protecting your Brand

Basic Facts about Trademarks

NCAA Trademarks

NCAA Logos

NCAA Trademark Protection Program

Trademark Contacts

Protecting your Brand Presentation, 2011 NCAA Convention

NCAA Advertising and Promotional Standards

Working with NCAA Trademarks

Using the trademark, its symbols and NCAA guidelines:

NOTE:  These general guidelines do not include merchandise designs.  All product designs must be submitted through the NCAA’s licensing program administered by the Collegiate Licensing Company.  Inquiries should be directed to the NCAA licensing staff.  Click here for information about the NCAA licensing program.

ALL uses of NCAA trademarks or logos must be submitted to the NCAA for approval.

• Click here for the most current list of NCAA licensed or owned trademarks.
• Downloads of NCAA logos may be obtained through the NCAA Digital Library.  www.ncaalogolibrary.org
• The NCAA’s position on inclusion of ® and ™ marks is first and most prominent use
• The location of the trademark and how it is used is the primary factor in determining if a trademark symbol should be included in text.  If the protected logo location is prominent and the primary focus on the page or product design, an ® or ™ in the text is not necessary.  However, if the logo location is placed lower on the page or is secondary to the message being delivered, an ® or ™ in the text or header (first use only) should be inserted.
• Official names cannot be changed or abbreviated unless specifically trademarked (Final 4, F4).
• There may be no registration of or use of NCAA marks within Internet domain names unless advance approval from the NCAA is secured and ownership of the URL is maintained by the NCAA.  Such use of NCAA marks in Internet directories is prohibited; however, members may use an NCAA mark within a member URL, provided such NCAA mark does not appear in the domain name portion of the URL.  By way of example, members may use the following URL: www.memberx.edu/ncaa.

NCAA trademarked protection language:

• NCAA trademarks benefit from consistent “source identification” to the public through basic legal language attributing ownership.
• The legal statement should be used on “printed” materials of all types for all NCAA trademarks, except where space limitations prevent legal language.
• Printed items that display NCAA members logos.

The NCAA requires protection language as outlined below.  This does not have to be prominently displayed language and is expected to be included as some form of “mouse print”.

The examples below are written only to represent the most typical examples.  If you are unsure of exact wording for a specific example, please work with your NCAA women’s basketball staff representative or their designees for approval.

For Blue Disc and/or Wordmark, please use:

• NCAA is a trademark of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

For Blue Disc and/or Wordmark plus another NCAA trademark, please use (for example):

• NCAA and March Madness are trademarks owned or licensed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
• NCAA and Women’s Final Four are trademarks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
• NCAA, NCAA Sweet Sixteen and Road to the Final Four are trademarks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

If you have questions, please contact Durenka Robie at drobie@ncaa.org or 317/917-6825.