Trademark and Image Reproduction Guidelines
TRADEMARKS: Cheese Days® & Green County Cheese Days®
With more than 110 years of Green County Cheese Days there is a lot to celebrate. The popularity of the festival and the local pride associated with it has resulted in an overall sense of community ownership. While this sense of community ownership is beneficial in many ways, it also presents challenges as the Cheese Days Board of Directors balances growing the festival as a community partner, along with the need for protecting the best interests of the festival and insuring the future vitality and stability of the event. Therefore, Green County Cheese Days trademarked the festival name with the US Patent and Trademark Office. These trademarks represents the culmination of the entire investment into the branding and history of the festival.
Many people may not have realize that profits from branded merchandise sold by the festival play a significant role in offsetting the staggering costs of operation. Green County Cheese Days makes a substantial investment into promoting and operating the event – to the benefit of retailers, lodging establishments, pubs and restaurants - in Monroe and beyond. In addition, numerous local service organizations and groups (like Monroe Optimists for example) host food booths, and they depend on the crowds at the festival as a source of fund raising for their own causes.
Not unlike Summerfest, Harley Davidson, Bucky Badger, or other Wisconsin brands that are protecting their best interests, Green County Cheese Days has a policy for trademark licensing. Just as you may not use the image of Bucky Badger or the wordmark “Harley Davidson” on your own line of merchandise – no individual, business, or group (either for-profit, or non-profit) is allowed to use the words “Cheese Days” without going through the proper steps to establish a formal Trademark License Agreement with Cheese Days. This policy applies to merchandise that is to be sold, and items intended for promotional purposes.
The trademark and wordmark also apply to activities or events. For example, if a local group is planning to hold a flea market somewhere in Monroe during the festival weekend, the use of the wording “Cheese Days Flea Market” would be prohibited.
