School Logo Copyright

ooobedoo

I need to buy my son some new jumpers, only there is only one stockist. This stockist is a nightmare, it takes 3 weeks to get anything and the biggest problem I have is the attitude of the staff, it's almost like they are doing me a favour in selling me the stuff there are few more points, but the main one being arrogance and rudeness.

I want my child to have logo'ed school wear, I think it looks better but I am not willing to part with any of my hard earned cash to this supplier.

There is another company locally that can both supply and print the logo on jumpers, but this is the kicker, when they rebranded the school al few years ago, somehow the orginal supplier has the copyright...not the school, to the schools logo....is this madness??? anybody ever heard of this???

building_with_lego

There's a thread on here from a few weeks back about uniforms. One poster mentioned that a group of parents at their school got a rival supplier to embroider almost the same logo- just different enough for them to be able to do it. Apparently the difference was barely visible but at a fraction of the price...

Owain_Moneysaver

Put in a Freedom of Information Act request to the local authority about the contract arrangements for the new logo, copyright, and what fees/commission the local authority receives from the supplier.

meritaten

my GDs school has one local supplier - BUT you CAN order the uniform through the school itself who charge the same as the supplier, but put the profits into school funds. Ask the school secretary if you can do this if you are willing to pay the going rate.

kingfisherblue

We had only one supplier for my sons' primary school uniform - a shop that I refuse to set foot in, due to rude staff and poor quality, over priced clothing. A local 'work wear' company on a nearby industrial estate stitches logos onto either clothing supplied by themselves, or onto clothing that you bring in to them. The logo is the same, with a slight adjustment to size. It costs £3 per item, or £2.50 for five items or more. When my boys were at that school, I would get decent but inexpensive sweatshirts or jumpers (often buy2 get 1 free) and get the logo embroidered on. It saved a fortune, and more importantly, I never did have to go back to that awful shop!

ooobedoo

Kingfisher, I think you are in my town!!!!!

kingfisherblue

I'm in St. Helens

ooobedoo

OH..ok, maybe not then. It's a nightmare, I mean how does a shop end up owning the copyright for a schools logo? am I being non logical, how could this have happened?? Surely the school should own the copyright??

kingfisherblue

Maybe both towns have nightmarish uniform shops

As for copyright, could it be that the supplier designed the logo? Or that a contract of some sort was drawn up, transferring copyright to the company for some reason?

Instead of going to the stockist, can you find out who actually produces the clothes? Before we could get ours from the place on the industrial estate, one of my friends contacted the company that made the uniform (rather than the company that sold it). They were only in Warrington, so not far from where we live. She went to the factory and bought directly from them.

I appreciate that it might not be that easy for you - the manufacturer was listed on the label for our sweatshirts, but I don't know if that is the case for everyone. If you can find the factory, though (assuming it is in Britain), you might be able to order directly from them, even if you end up paying the same price. Usually it would be cheaper though.

If this isn't a possibility, try approaching local companies that embroider logos. To avoid copyright problems, make the design ever so slightly different - our logo had the name of the school round the outside, and a distinctive flower in the centre. The size was changes slightly, and the flower made a bit larger, so that it was closer to the lettering. I believe that a parent had paid a one-off set up fee of about £15 a few years ago, but this meant that the design was available to anybody who wanted to buy it. The parent had two boys in the school and decided that it was worth the price. It definitely benefited other parents as well. Maybe a few of you could get together to share the set up fee, if there is one.


ETA: I did think that you were in my town, though, as there was a shop called Oobidoo in St. Helens back in the 70s and early 80s - it was quite an odd shop, as you had to go downstairs for most things. the building is still known as Oobidoo to those of us who remember it!

dibuzz

kingfisherblue wrote: »

I'm in St. Helens

Is it Singhs?

kingfisherblue

dibuzz wrote: »

Is it Singhs?

Yes - how did you guess