Trademark: Allied Printing Trades Council Union Label

First Used: 1911

Registered: 1949

Current Owner: INTERNATIONAL ALLIED PRINTING TRADES ASSOCIATION [1]

Trademark Type: certification mark; design mark

Primarily Associated With: newspapers and magazines, books and pamphlets, catalogs and price lists, posters and picture cards, maps and charts, sheet music and music books, drawings and engineering bulletins, and coupons and trading stamps, among other goods [2]

Also a Certification Mark For: paper; cardboard; articles of paper and of cardboard; goods of vinyl in the nature of stickers, decals, banners, signage, and vehicle wraps; goods of plastic in the nature of novelty items; printed matter; newspapers; periodicals; books; bookbinding material; photographs; stationery; calendars; daily planners; folders; envelopes; business cards; greeting cards; signs; banners; placards; posters; flags; stickers; decals; pamphlets; brochures; leaflets; pennants; ribbons; key tags; magnets; buttons; pins; labels; cans; bottles; metal containers; plastic containers and bags; cloth containers and bags; mouse pads; clothing; and paper, cardboard, vinyl, plastic, metal, glass or fabric that an image can be placed on by printing, sewing, etching, stamping or by electronic means [3]

Brief (and likely incomplete) History [4]:

The Allied Printing Trades Council Union Label is a significant piece of trademark history – it is the oldest still-active certification mark registration in the United States!

The Allied Printing Trades Council Label originated from early efforts by union printers to identify labor-produced work, with the first label appearing in the Typographical Journal in 1891. In 1897, the Compositors, Pressmen, and Bookbinders agreed on a unified label design, marking the beginning of the Allied label. Employers resisted its use, most notably the United Typothetae of America condemned the label in 1899. In 1911, five major printing unions formed the International Allied Printing Trades Council (IAPTC) to oversee and promote the label’s use. It worked! By 1939, the Allied Printing Trades Council Label had become the primary identifier of union-made print work across the industry.

Today, the Allied Printing Trades Council Union Label is affixed to printed products by licensed companies whose employees are members of the Allied Printing Trades Council, which is made up of the Printing, Publishing, and Media Workers Sector (PPMWS) of the Communications Workers of America and the Graphic Communications Conference (GCC) a division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

To use the Allied Printing Trades Council Union Label certification mark, a print shop must be fully unionized and in good standing with its local Allied Printing Trades Council. Each shop receives a unique label number and city designation, which appears within the mark and serves as a point of traceability and accountability. Use of the label is strictly controlled to ensure that every aspect of the printing process, from typesetting to finishing, is performed by union labor.

Did you know, a certification mark in the printing industry is often referred to as a “bug,” industry slang for any small identifying mark or symbol included in printed materials, typically in a discreet spot, like the edge of a page or the inside back cover (almost like a little insect on the page). Bugs are especially common in political campaign materials, where the presence of a union bug signals that the piece was printed in a union shop, something often valued by labor-friendly candidates and organizations.