University | 10:46 am | November 12, 2012 | By

Licensing office approves FCC shirt design

front1
Photo by FCC.

After submitting four different T-shirt designs to the Yale Licensing Office, the Freshman Class Council has finally received approval for its most recent Yale-Harvard shirt design.

Although the new shirts have no “explicit Harvard symbols or copyrighted material” on them, the FCC still managed to accomplish its goal of making a reference to Harvard’s recent cheating scandal, said FCC President William Sadock ’16.

“Try cheating your way out of this one,” the back of the shirt reads. The front of the shirt features a bulldog in a referee outfit blowing a whistle.

“We were really restricted and kept having a lot of designs turned away, so luckily we were able to put this together,” FCC Treasurer Rafi Bildner ’16 said.

The FCC submitted its first shirt design, which featured the word “Cheatas” emblazoned over the Harvard logo, about a week ago, but the Yale Licensing Office rejected the design based on Harvard’s licensing criteria, according to FCC members.

Although the multiple rejections did relate to trademark issues, it also represented the administration’s discomfort with “tampering” with Harvard’s logos since Yalies wouldn’t want Harvard tampering with ours, according to FCC Secretary Austin Bryniarski ’16.

“The shirt is supposed to be in jest and to poke fun at the other school, and I think that the trademark restrictions that both licensing offices have put in place have been blunting that goal and tradition,” he added.

The Game shirts cost $10 apiece, and additional funds will go toward Hurricane Sandy relief, Sadock said.

The additional money will be given to “Shirts for Sandy,” an organization created by Calhoun freshmen that will donate proceeds through AmeriCare, he said, adding that AmeriCare has pledged to triple every donation.

The shirts will be sold in the residential college dining halls during dinner this coming week.

Clarification: Nov. 12, 2012

A previous version of this article included three images of original FCC designs that were not approved by the Yale Licensing Office.
Comments