While most of the campus is enjoying the Illinois men’s basketball team’s winning season, the University is already taking greater steps against counterfeit and unlicensed merchandise, working with regional and national organizations to protect the Illinois brand.

The effort began last week when the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA) issued a press release warning fans against unlicensed merchandise. It will continue next week, when staff from the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) will come to campus to observe the market and help the University plan for marketing if the Illini make a run for the national championship.

“As we get closer to the post season, Big Ten, CLC and NCAA representatives will be here to make sure everything’s sold correctly and take action against illegal merchandise, including taking it off the shelves, penalties for whoever sells it and possibly even legal action,” said Marty Kaufmann, licensing coordinator for the DIA.

Kaufmann said that while unlicensed merchandise hasn’t been a major problem yet, there have been a few incidents.

“We’ve started to see some stuff,” he said. “It hasn’t been major, but we’re seeing more and more of it. Mostly t-shirts, but it could be anything.”

Kaufmann said the press release was the first step in an education campaign for Illini fans.

“As we get closer to the playoffs, we want to get the word out to our fans to only buy licensed merchandise,” Kaufmann said. “Everything with our logo, the University’s name or the team’s name needs to be made by licensed manufacturers. You can tell if it is because it has a CLC sticker on it. The bottom line is, you know it’s official if it has the CLC sticker.”

Tammy Purves, director of corporate communication of the CLC, said the company works with about 200 universities and colleges to protect their trademarks by conducting market surveys. The surveys consist of examinations of stores selling school merchandise to make sure they’re selling official merchandise. CLC staff members also come to campuses to help them manage large events such as important games.

“At the big games, there’s a better chance of counterfeiters, so we work with the University and local law enforcement,” Purves said.

The CLC logo, a holographic tag or sticker, is required for all official merchandise from a CLC sponsored school, Purves said.

Kaufmann said the campaign will continue, with the University working with local merchants and printers to make them aware of the concerns. The DIA will also put out more press releases to tell fans where they can find licensed merchandise and meet with regional and national organizations to make a plan to counter any counterfeit merchandise.

Many local merchants haven’t had any problems with unlicensed merchandise yet, but are well aware of the University’s concerns.

“We work pretty closely with the marketing department, so we haven’t had any difficulties with (unlicensed merchandise),” Cory Schumard, manager of Gameday Sports, 519 E. Green, said.

“It is pretty par for the course, though, as we get near March Madness time,” he said. “We’ve heard first-hand that if this team makes it to St. Louis, the CLC and NCAA will have a large presence on campus. That’s true of any team that makes it far. They’ll have personnel around to make sure some guy isn’t selling shirts out of the trunk of his car. We’ll even have some representatives in our store, and we’ve been doing this for years.”

Schumard said this was a fairly normal action for the University to take.

“I’m not surprised the University is trying to get out ahead of this and protect their merchandise,” he said.