UK agrees to trademark licensing partnership with Fermata Partners

UK continued its university-wide changes on Wednesday when the university announced a five-year trademark partnership with Fermata Partners.

The costs of the partnership will come from UK Athletics, according to the university. The university will have a five-year option after the initial five-year term is concluded. UK will receive 90 percent of the first $5.4 million in revenue and 80 percent of the next $5.4 million in revenue.

“This is another great public-private partnership for the University of Kentucky,” said Eric Monday, executive vice president for finance and administration, in a university release. “This agreement with Fermata strengthens UK’s brand position and will produce additional revenue that can be used to support student success.”

UK will be the first university to be in a trademark partnership with Fermata. Under the agreement, Fermata will deal with the daily operations of the university’s licensing program, including “coordinating all licensing logistics, contracts, product approvals, royalty collection and business planning with UK’s licensees,” according to the university’s release.

“Our licensing program allows our students, alumni and the best fans in college athletics to celebrate their allegiance to UK,” associate athletics director Jason Schlafer said in the release. “We have built a strong foundation over the past three decades, and as we look to the future, our new alliance with Fermata will help the university navigate the retail marketplace with strong brand management principles while ensuring that we deliver more value to UK’s consumers.”

The deal will begin on July 1 and will run through June 2019, not including the five-year option.

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