Eugene (KMTR) - The football success of the Oregon Ducks has T-shirt sales flying high. But that's not necessarily a good thing. Thousands of Duck-themed products are made and sold by 325 companies—including 60 in Oregon—under license by the University of Oregon. But school marketing officials are seeing more unauthorized merchandise for sale, especially at football games.
The problem is that the consequences of illegal merchandise featuring certain players could affect those players’ ability to step on the field, according to Matt Dyste of U. of O. Marketing.
“Using player’s names, player’s likenesses on product gets in to being an NCAA regulation (violation), and could impact a player's eligibility and we certainly don't want that going on,” Dyste said. “And if you're a fan of the University of Oregon, you should be doing everything you can to make sure that stuff's not happening in our parking lot.”
Dyste says legal products will have trademark or copyright marks near the licensed logos or images.
