AUGUST 2002
DISTRICT MANAGERS AND POSTMASTERS
SUBJECT: Licensing Program
As our organization's most valued assets, you, our employees, play a vital role
in protecting one of our most valuable assets, our good name. The United States
Postal Service-and all of the
trademarks, symbols, images and icons associated with it. This is an important
undertaking, which for years has been handled by a small team of staff in the
Headquarters Licensing office. They cannot achieve this alone.
That is why we are asking for your full cooperation and support as the Postal
Service takes a more focused approach to protecting our intellectual property.
You will find in this issue of the Postal Bulletin our licensing policy, a field
handbook, and a list of official licensees for Postal Service products.
Our goal is to help employees understand what we have been doing behind the
scenes for years-protecting the brand. As U.S. Postal Service employees, we
must control the nature and quality of our goods or risk losing Postal Service
trademarks over time.
Likewise, we want to ensure that merchandise bearing Postal Service trademarks,
symbols, images, and icons is of high quality and presents our brand in a way
that is consistent with our corporate image. Corporations such as IBM, Coca-Cola,
Harley-Davidson, and General Motors do, and we are certainly in their league.
Because we are the seventh most recognizable brand among the Fortune 500 companies,
customers look to us to set a standard in business as well as community service.
They want consistency and they want to trust that if our name is on the merchandise,
it is a quality product.
To protect and strengthen our brand, we are now requiring that all official
postal purchases of merchandise featuring Postal Service trademarks, symbols,
images, and icons, be purchased from official licensees. We will update and
publish the list each month in the Postal Bulletin and also make the list available
on the Licensing intranet site at blue.usps.gov/corporate/licensing and the
Postal Service's Internet site at www.usps.com.
With your support, the licensing program will be monitored and strengthened
and the Postal Service's intellectual property will not be compromised.
Patrick R. Donahoe
Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President
Keith Strange
Vice President
Supply Management
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