As the University of Idaho Director of Trademarks, Sue Smalley”s said she is energized by being a Vandal.
Her position deals with the legality of trademarks and licensing. She has to make sure people honor the UI logo and brand to keep the Vandal name strong. To do this, Smalley is in charge of registering trademarks with the U.S. patent and trademark offices. This includes registering school organizations and affiliations.
Smalley said she enjoys the legal aspect of her job as much as she loves being a Vandal.
She said the best part of her job is getting to do something different every day.
“I come into work and and even if I have things I planned on doing, I open up my email and go, “Well I guess I”m not doing that today. I”m doing something else,”” she said.
Some days she said she will get an email from her boss informing her about local companies using UI logos on their products. When this happens she has to communicate with them the rules and legal process required to use the UI logo.
She says it”s simple.
“When that happens I assume they don”t know better,” she said. “It”s mostly an educational thing.”
Smalley said she gets most of her tips on improper brand use from talking to regular people each day. People will have products or talk with her about organizations using the Vandal logo or brand, and she often discovers illegitimate use this way.
When this happens Smalley said she reaches out to the organization to tell them what they can and can”t do.
Smalley said her first task when she took her job six years ago was with the local fabric store. “People were begging for (Vandal) fabric,” Smalley said.
She said she worked with the store to allow use of the Vandal brand and logo in their fabric stock. As a Vandal alumna, she said she was excited to get the legal process going to make that happen.
Smalley said she finds the fun in her job by building fans, encouraging people to wear their gear and be Vandals.
Kevin Neighbors can be reached at [email protected]