Call Them the Royalties Canadian Mounted Police

When the Mounties say they always get their man, they’ll soon be including peddlers of cheesy souvenirs.

The distinctive Royal Canadian Mounted Police dress uniform of red jacket, broad-brimmed hat and striped trousers has long been reproduced on merchandise ranging from Barbie dolls to beer bottles, usually without permission. But beginning April 1, the police force will license its image to selected businesses in return for a 10% fee.

At the same time, the force intends to start cracking down on those viewed as sullying or exploiting the image, such as the recently retired professional wrestler who dressed in a red uniform and practiced “brutality” on his opponents with a fake cattle prod, and a private security service in Texas calling itself the RCMP--for Royal Courtesy Mounted Patrol, officials said.

Money returned from licensing will fund community policing, crime prevention and other public affairs activities.

Mounted Police officials announced the plan Friday at an Ottawa news conference.

William Pratt, the Calgary businessman who heads the new foundation that will administer the licensing program, declined to estimate how much the program might earn.

“Presumably it could be fairly substantial revenue,” he said.

Pratt added that no licensees have been selected but that “there has been a lot of interest.”

The Mountie image is a staple of Canadian souvenir shops and through the years has appeared on key chains, stuffed toys, ashtrays, shot glasses, toothpaste tubes, peanut packets, swizzle sticks and countless other articles.

Spokesmen for the Mounted Police on Friday declined to identify which products they might go after first, although Commissioner Philip Murray told the news conference, “I don’t think one wants to lose their sense of humor in this whole process.”

Pratt said the licensed souvenirs will also tend to crowd the kitsch out of the market.

“When you get a product that is properly produced under license, that tends to discourage other manufacturers,” he said.

Murray and Chief Supt. Jacques Lemay also said the force will apply the rules to movies and television programs that depict the force. More than 250 Hollywood movies dating from the silent era have featured the Mounted Police.

“Due South,” a Canadian-produced television series that features a Mountie at work in Chicago, will be exempt, because it got under way before April 1.

The program is broadcast on CBS and the CTV network in Canada. Although the Mounted Police expressed reservations about the series last summer, the force now cooperates in its filming, and Lemay said officials are happy with it.

To enforce the licensing program, the Mounted Police will register its trademark in Canada, the United States and, eventually, overseas, Lemay said.

Funds raised will be administered by the Mounted Police Foundation, a nonprofit organization with a board of directors headed by Pratt. Pratt was general manager of the Calgary Stampede rodeo for 10 years and began its licensing program. He was also president and chief operating officer of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.