Former UMass Coach Seeks Trademark on Slogan

BOSTON (AP) _ Former University of Massachusetts basketball coach John Calipari has won preliminary approval to trademark the ``Refuse to Lose'' slogan his team made popular last year.

However Calipari, according to today's Boston Globe, copied the slogan from the university's 1990 Yankee Conference football team, and was not the first to use it commercially.

The Globe said Duke University's women tennis coach Joey Hyden was the first to apply for a trademark for the slogan, but sold his rights to Calipari.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Washington gave preliminary approval this week to Calipari's application for a trademark on the motto, and said he may be the only college basketball coach to trademark his team's motto.

Commercial use of the slogan potentially is a multi-million dollar business. Calipari has already collected royalties from use of the motto, including on Seattle Mariners T-shirts and NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon's pit toolbox.

A spokesman for Champion Products Inc., told the Globe it pays Calipari royalties for the slogan, but would not say how much.

Calipari left UMass last month to accept a $3 million-a-year contract to coach the NBA's New Jersey Nets, who plan to use the slogan on some merchandise, according to the Globe.

Officials at UMass told the Globe they expect Calipari to allow the university to continue using the slogan for free.

The slogan was used in 1990 on T-shirts designed by seniors on the UMass champion football team. Calipari picked it up to inspire his basketball team.

``That slogan was meant for the football team and any other program at the university. It was not meant to make one individual wealthy,'' Paul Mayberry, a co-captain and All America on the 1990 football team, told the Globe.

Last season, the university's basketball team made it to the national semifinals and finished with a 35-2 record.

Much of the marketing of the ``Refuse to Lose'' slogan was handled by David Glover, then the university's academic adviser to the basketball team and Calipari's business agent.

Glover is now the Nets assistant vice president for basketball operations.

The Globe said documents it obtained from UMass showed that Glover made at least 200 long-distance calls the last 18 months from university telephones without reimbursing the school.

That could violate a state law prohibiting public employees from using state resources for private business.

The Globe said those who have used the slogan without permission have received cease-and-desist letters from Calipari's New York law firm.

In 1988, Hyden then a graduate student at Clemson University, started a sportswear company and sold less than $1,000 worth of ``Refuse to Lose''-emblazoned T-shirts.

He raised enough money to apply for a trademark on the slogan in 1992.

Calipari began using the slogan to inspire his 1992-93 basketball team and sold his own line of ``Refuse to Lose'' clothing at stores in Amherst and at J.C. Penney department stores.

Hyden said Glover called him last summer and told him Calipari could sue him over the trademark, so Hyden sold his rights for $3,500 and permission to use the slogan on shirts for tennis, beach volleyball, and ``extreme'' sports.

The federal trademark office evaluates trademark applicants not just on who applied first, but on who has made most commercial use of a slogan.

Bill Strickland, UMass sports information director, said Calipari donated $20,000 from his ``Refuse to Lose'' earnings to the university library.

He also said Calipari designed the UMass logo, but never took credit or sought compensation for it.

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