ANOTHER REASON TO HATE TOM BRADY – HE’S PROACTIVE ABOUT PROTECTING HIS BRAND!
Tom Brady – He’s the most hated player in the NFL, and possibly in all sports. A Google search for “hate Tom Brady” turns up a plethora of hits such as Which States Hate Tom Brady the Most?, 40 Reasons Why We Hate Tom Brady, and A Psychology Professor’s Analysis of Why People Hate Tom Brady to name just a few. There is even a Hate Tom Brady Club Facebook Group!
Whether you love him or hate him (like I do), he has recently discovered the value of branding. Starting in late 2016, Brady began filing trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to register the mark TB12 for a variety of goods and services. As of the writing of this article, Brady owns twenty-two registered marks and four pending applications for TB12. In an effort to further leverage his brand (and feed his ego), in 2019 Brady filed applications to register TOM TERRIFIC for t-shirts and sports memorabilia. Thankfully Brady abandoned his effort to register TOM TERRIFIC after the USPTO received a protest letter from Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver.
Undeterred by the rejection, which I’m sure he’s not used to – especially from NFL officials, after recently signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brady (TEB Capital Management) has filed new applications to register TAMPA BRADY and TOMPA BAY for clothing, headwear and footwear. In addition, on the same day that Brady signed with the Bucs, his Los Angeles based agent Yee & Dubin filed a similar application to register TB x TB. Those applications should be acted on sometime this summer, well in advance of the start of the 2020 NFL season.
With billions of dollars spent each year on NFL merchandise and his career in it’s twilight years (hopefully), it’s not surprising that Brady is looking for additional revenue streams. For the first time since 2015, Brady is not expected to top the list of merchandise sellers in the NFL. According to CNBC, the NFL Players Association was expecting retail sales of NFL merchandise to gross around US$1.7 billion for 2019. About $100 million of that revenue is shared among NFL players. Those figures include only officially licensed NFL merchandise and would not include merchandise sold under marks such as TB x TB, TOMPA BAY and TAMPA BRADY. As the owner of those marks, Brady would be entitled to ALL proceeds of sales for clothing bearing those marks without other NFL marks.
While many people may despise him, Brady is a smart man (he did graduate from The University of Michigan) who recognizes the importance of protecting his brand. As a business owner (Brady owns TEB Capital Management), maintaining control over branding is vital to success. Federal registration of a trademark provides several advantages when it comes to brand protection. First, registration of a trademark with the USPTO protects the owner from infringement by granting them the exclusive right to use the mark in connection with certain goods/services in all fifty states of the United States. Also, in the case of t-shirts, hats and other goods that can be cheaply manufactured overseas, federal registration allows the owner to use of the U.S. Customs Service to seize and impound infringing goods at the border.
Does your business have brands worth protecting? Contact us to see how we can assist you with registering and monitoring your brands.
