Happy Big Friday, all. Thanks to everyone who joined us Tuesday for the fall Communicators Town Hall. It was great to see so many of you.

 

Recently, the university entered into an MOU with the Department of Defense in order to be considered a Voluntary Educational Program institution. As part of that process, the DOD conducted a review of a number of our practices as it relates to recruiting and educating active duty and veteran students.

 

The results of that review revealed a couple of corrective measures related to communications we needed to make to keep us in compliance with the DOD and service branch trademark licensing programs. I have worked with several communicators in recent weeks to correct existing compliance issues. All current known issues have been resolved, so there is no action you need to take at this point. As part of our corrective measures, I am writing to make you aware of the details described below. We will publish these guidelines and provide additional details at a later date.

 

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Licensing Programs

The Department of Defense has a trademark licensing program and each service branch has a licensing office. There are a handful of licensed marks that may not be used on our website (as graphics or within photos or videos) without permission from the appropriate licensing office. The DOD Trademark Licensing Guide (https://www.defense.gov/Resources/Branding-and-Trademarks/DOD-Trademark-Licensing-Guide) has information about those marks and service branch licensing offices.

 

You may not use DOD licensed marks in your communications without permission from the appropriate licensing office, as referenced in the guide linked above. It is your responsibility to seek that permission in order to keep the university in compliance. This is no different than the general responsibility all of us have to adhere to applicable laws (ie: licensing and copyright).

 

Images/Videos of Uniformed Personnel

In addition to the licensing information above, the DOD has a handful of guidelines related to images of uniformed personnel we must adhere to as part of our Voluntary Educational Program status. If you feature a service member in uniform—active duty, former, or retired—in images or videos on a university website, you may not display the service branch insignia without written permission from the service branch licensing office, as outlined above. You also may not display the following elements of the uniform:

 

• The service member’s nameplate (last name over breast pocket)
• The service member’s rank (typically on uniform shoulder, collar, or hat)

 

It is perfectly acceptable to blur the nameplate, rank, or licensed marks in images or videos. You can see an example at https://news.utk.edu/2017/08/22/sight-unseen-army-vet-chooses-ut-commanders-rave-reviews/ (hat, collar, breast pocket).

 

Additional Guidance

• As described in the DOD guide, you may never feature military seals that include the words “Department of…” These are for official use only.
• ROTC cadets are able to be displayed with rank and nametape visible if it is clear that they are in ROTC. This is generally done by making the ROTC patch on their uniforms visible or by having the language around the page be about ROTC.
• EXAMPLE: A picture of ROTC cadets without their patch visible on a page for veterans would not be in compliance. If that same picture were on your ROTC page it would be acceptable. Any disclaimer added to an image signifying that the pictured personnel are ROTC cadets is a suitable way to be in compliance.

• There are additional, permissive, guidelines for use of marks inside veteran student lounges and within ROTC programs. Any physical display of licensed service marks outside those spaces is strictly prohibited.

 

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Thank you for your attention to this matter. Again, we will publish these guidelines and provide additional details at a later date.

 

In the meantime, if you have any specific questions about DOD licensing or the specific information above, feel free to reach out to me directly.

 

Jacob

 

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Jacob Rudolph
Associate Vice Chancellor

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Office of Communications & Marketing
91 Communications Building
Knoxville, TN 37996 

[log in to unmask] 
865-974-8046 
communications.utk.edu