An attorney for the Green Forest School District has proposed a legal truce with the University of Missouri that would allow the small Carroll County district to keep using a tiger mascot logo that the university claims is a copy of its trademarked tiger.
School district leaders were uncomfortable with a licensing agreement that the university proposed to resolve the logo dispute.
The school district countered with a different agreement that would allow both schools to continue using their respective tiger-head logos without the need for litigation, Superintendent MattSummers said.
“We go back to where we were,” Summers said, noting that the district doesn’t think the logos are identical.
The logo dispute began Oct. 21 when Summers received a letter from Collegiate Licensing Co., a licensing representative for the University of Missouri. The licensing company said theuniversity wanted Green Forest to stop using its tiger-head logo because the university thought the logo was too similar to the tiger-head design the university owns.
The Green Forest School Board voted in November to continue using the logo, an original design by a former teacher.
The dispute between the university, which has about 35,000 students in Columbia, Mo., and the school district of roughly 1,250 students attracted media attention in Arkansas and Missouri.
“This is an ongoing matter between the university and the school district,” said James Aronowitz, an attorney for the Atlanta-based licensing company. “I can say the university’s goal is to resolve this matter amicably.”
In early December, the university offered the district a free license to continue using the tiger head in the district’s logo, with the university retaining ownership of the tiger-head design, Summers said.
Aronowitz would not comment on that proposal. He said the university is simply trying to protect its trademark.
“Just like other trademark owners, they do have an obligation to enforce and protect their trademark rights or risk losing them. The university is trying to do that and understands the sensitivity of the situation,” he said.
The licensing agreementdemonstrated to the Green Forest School Board that the university thinks the district’s logo is a variation of the Missouri tiger, said Charles Harwell, a Springdale attorney who represents the Green Forest district. Harwell recommended a “stand-still” agreement that says each school can use and own its logo.
The proposed licensing agreement didn’t acknowledge that Green Forest had created its own logo, and the School Board was concerned that the university could end the agreement if it didn’t like the way the tiger was beingused, Harwell said.
The stand-still agreement states, “Each party acknowledges and agrees that the opposite party’s use of its respective mark in no way injures that party or dilutes its respective mark.”
Harwell said he sent the agreement to Aronowitz at the beginning of January but has not received a response. Harwell said he hopes for meaningful dialogue in finding a resolution.
“I think Green Forest is steeled for a fight if there has to be one,” Harwell said. “They’re being told they have to fold.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 01/27/2014