Guidelines on Use of University Name for Commercial Purposes

I. Preamble

1. In 2004, the Administrative Affairs Committee laid down some general guidelines on when the University Name (as defined in Paragraph 2 below) might or might not be used on packaging, advertising materials or any other documents for the promotion of external bodies and/or their products or services (“Commercial Purposes”). In view of the increasing requests from internal and external parties to use University Name in different commercial promotional materials, the 2004 guidelines are recapped and supplemented in this Guidelines.

II. General Principles

2. The University’s name, including “The Chinese University of Hong Kong” and “香港中文大學”, all abbreviations and acronyms such as “CU”, “CUHK”, “中大” and “港中大” and any logo, emblem, trademarks and signatures, whether as shown in https://www.cpr.cuhk.edu.hk/en/resources/emblem-download/ or in any other form of visual identity that connotes an association with the University (“University Name”), is property of the University.

3. As a publicly-funded institution, the University has the responsibility to avoid conflict of interest and to safeguard its reputation. The University Name shall not be used for any Commercial Purposes without prior written permission of the University to avoid misrepresentation and misuse.

4. The general principles on use of University Name for Commercial Purposes are:

4.1 The permission to allow any party to use the University Name for any Commercial Purposes shall not suggest, imply or indicate, either directly or indirectly, the University’s endorsement, support, favor of, association with, or opposition to any party, activity, programme, event, policy, product, service or the like.

4.2 Except for a statement of fact describing exactly the scientific research/input made by the University on a product, the University Name or the name of its affiliated unit should not be used for Commercial Purposes.

5. The aforesaid general principles shall apply to:

5.1 all individuals, groups, organisations and companies, including but not limited to startup companies of CUHK staff, students and alumni; and

5.2 all media, including but not limited to, print, radio, television, video, motion pictures and all forms of electronic media (e.g. internet websites, electronic mail, social media, applications for computers or mobile devices).

III. Seeking Approval to Use University Name for Commercial Purposes

6. There are increasing requests from contracting parties under licences of intellectual property rights or agreements for service/knowledge transfer (these agreements are handled by Office of Research and Knowledge Transfer Services (“ORKTS”)) to use the University Name for Commercial Purposes. ORTKS shall be the primary contact point and responsible administrative unit to process such requests.

7. ORKTS has formulated Standard Operating Procedures to review and approve the requests. As a guideline, use of University Name for Commercial Purposes would only be allowed if:

7.1 the use of University Name is solely for informative purpose;

7.2 the statement associated with the University Name is factual and accurate describing exactly the scientific research on, and/or input by a University unit for a product or service; and

7.3 the University Name is in a size, colour and position that is not prominent.

8. Upon approval, ORKTS will inform the Communications and Public Relations Office (“CPRO”). CPRO will then provide ORKTS with guidelines on the correct usage of the University brand to supply to the relevant party. CPRO will actively monitor for any breaches of the University’s brand guidelines or any usage of the University’s brand which falls outside the principles articulated in paragraph 7 of this document.

9. Below are some precedents of approved use of University Name by ORKTS:

10. Any promotional material reviewed by ORKTS shall be published/used as is. The University may impose other conditions and/or disclaimers on the use of University Name requests as it considers appropriate and fit.

Approved by AAPC on 14 December 2021