Seen this way, trademarks protect consumers at least as much as companies that own them. Trademark lawyers and paralegals spend considerable time tending to registrations of marks with various state governments and with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Washington. They also make sure that the same or confusingly similar marks are not used by unrelated firms, take action to prevent counterfeit goods from being sold and try to educate the media and the public on the importance of using marks correctly. Sports relate to intellectual property in several ways, for example through endorsements by famous athletes. Michael Jordan is said to have made more money for endorsements than for playing basketball.
Teams also benefit by licensing use of their logos.
Until recently, purchasers of products bearing the name of a college or professional sports team would not have assumed any connection. However, the situation has changed dramatically. Various measures are now taken to regulate the quality of merchandise and to ensure that institutions whose logos are used share income through trademark licensing. According to an article published by the International Trademark Association, the market for licensed baseball-related merchandise, alone, grew about ten times between 1986 and 1991. This encourages counterfeit goods.