In January, 2000, the Office of Brand Management, which oversees Licensing for the Postal Service, made a decisive step towards implementing a broad scale licensing program by competitively selecting Equity Management Incorporated (EMI) as the exclusive worldwide licensing agency for the Postal Service. Over the past year, the Postal Service has been working with EMI to increase royalty revenue to a level consistent with the Postal Service’s intellectual property potential.

In FY 2000, the category distribution for licensed products was comprised primarily of collectible items. In fact, collectibles accounted for 79 percent of all licensed merchandise with far smaller percentages constituting apparel/accessories (17 percent), stationery/gifts (2 percent), home products (1 percent), and other/miscellaneous merchandise (1 percent). The program business plan calls for marked diversification of category distribution in an effort to make a fundamental shift in the Postal Service licensing business.

During 2001 the Postal Service executed 30 new contracts with licensees. Thirteen of these were publishing/one-time use deals, and 17 were longer term licensing contracts for merchandise sold in retail venues. The continued effect of these initiatives is to maximize Postal Service trademark equities and enhance the Postal Service brand with high quality products, while pursuing revenue growth. These new sales strategies will not impact royalties for at least 18 months, producing hard numbers during FY 2002.

In order to emphasize the standards by which potential licensees are measured, EMI reviewed nearly 400 products in 2001, some of which were multiple products from one vendor, but only 30 new deals were signed. EMI incorporates strict product review guidelines. This means that only the highest quality products are put into the marketplace. Each product that is reviewed pursuant to an active trademark license agreement undergoes a rigorous trademark review process to ensure proper trademark usage and the appropriate trademark language.

Organizations wishing to sell products bearing the Postal Service’s copyrighted images or marks must obtain a license from the Postal service. Furthermore, in conjunction with the Postal Service Law Department, Licensing has been protecting Postal Service intellectual property in assets represented by websites such as www.usps.com.