AUSTIN, Texas — It's one of the most anticipated games of the college football season – the Longhorns vs. the Tigers. That also means plenty of people will be out there trying to make an extra buck or two ... illegally.
As the University of Texas prepares for their match-up against Louisiana State University, along with a visit from ESPN College GameDay this weekend, Texas Athletics officials will be working with local law enforcement to address the potential sale of counterfeit and unlicensed merchandise around the game.
"As Texas begins to ascend back into the top of the polls, with the price of success comes a lot of people who want to take advantage of the brand," said Drew Martin, the executive senior associate athletics director for Texas Athletics.
The Texas Trademark Licensing staff will work alongside local investigators to patrol the campus and areas near Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium in search of bootleggers selling counterfeit merchandise. Texas officials say they want to protect fans from purchasing these "knockoffs," which they say is often "of inferior quality and counter to the policies of the University."
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To ensure that you're buying the real deal, the university provided the following tips:
- All officially licensed merchandise should display the “Officially Licensed Collegiate Product” hologram somewhere on the product or hangtag. All merchandise should have the appropriate trademark designations (i.e., TM, â) next to a specific name or design.
- The merchandise should depict Texas logos and trademarks in a tasteful manner.
- The tag on the garment should be intact. A torn or missing tag is evidence of a second-hand garment, one that probably would not meet the stringent quality standards put in place by Texas’ trademark licensing program.
- All merchandise should bear the name of the manufacturer somewhere on the product, either in the form of a hangtag, a neck label or screen-printed directly on the garment.
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"Not every shirt that's orange and white is a copyright infringement," said Martin. "100% look for this label that shows this is an officially collegiate licensing product."
Bootleggers beware: counterfeit merchandise is subject to seizure per state and federal laws.
You can watch the game on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. on KVUE.
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