The National Basketball Association ("NBA") is an integrated business enterprise consisting of thirty member teams located in the United States and Canada. NBA Properties, Inc. ("NBAP") is the marketing and licensing arm of the NBA, and is the owner and/or exclusive licensor of all trademarks, service marks, trade names and logos of the NBA and its member teams. To maintain the NBA’s popularity and to protect its valuable reputation and good will, NBAP has developed and implemented programs to create, register, and protect the trademarks designating goods and services associated with and emanating from the NBA and its member teams. One of these programs is the NBA Holographic Hangtag and Sticker Program.

The NBA Holographic Hangtag and Sticker program is currently in its third rendition. The first rendition was made up of the old "Official Licensed Product" ("OLP") NBA holographic hangtag and sticker. NBAP licensees stopped using the OLP NBA holographic hangtag and sticker following the 2001-02 season. The second rendition of the NBA Holographic Hangtag and Sticker Program no longer used OLP in association with any NBAP merchandise, including on product hangtags, stickers, or packaging. NBAP licensees stopped using the second rendition of the NBA holographic hangtags and sticker in October, 2004. The current NBA holographic hangtags and stickers are more sophisticated and difficult to replicate, although we expect manufacturers of counterfeit NBA merchandise to attempt to copy the new hangtags and stickers at some point.

How to Identify Licensed NBA Merchandise

Please keep the following factors in mind when evaluating the authenticity of merchandise featuring NBA marks:

1. The goods do not have attached to the product one of the required NBA-branded holographic hangtags/stickers.
2. The goods do not have licensee information attached to the product (e.g., Reebok, Mitchell & Ness, New Era, Majestic, etc.).
3. The screen printing/embroidery is poor in quality (e.g., colors bleeding or fading for screen printed products & sloppy logo embroidery).
4. The overall quality of the goods or materials used to produce the goods is poor.
5. The goods are irregular, as evidenced by split or torn labels or other markings.
6. The place of manufacture is not consistent with official licensed NBAP products of the same type (e.g., NBAP licensee, UNK, only produces its NBA jean products in China, not Russia or Turkmenistan).
7. NBAP products do not use the "TM" or ® symbols next to NBA or NBA member team logos.
8. A counterfeit NBA holographic hangtag or sticker is attached to the product.
   a. 2D surface hologram of NBA Logo is not color controlled (not blue, white and red);
   b. Bouncing balls all light at the same angle; or
   c. Misaligned edge shows hand application of hologram to hangtag.
   
   *Please remember that no single factor is determinative in identifying a counterfeit product.