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Trademarking Athletes' Names and Slogans

By Peter Perkowski

In June 2012, Washington Nationals' rookie outfielder Bryce Harper responded to a reporter's ill-informed inquiry with this sardonic retort: “That's a clown question, bro.” The catchy phrase was a near-immediate sensation, becoming an all-purpose comeback that trended on Twitter and was even repeated by a U.S. senator to a journalist. By the following day, Harper's agents had already applied to obtain a trademark on the expression.

Harper's action is one of the latest examples of a growing trend: athletes seeking trademarks on nicknames, slogans and catchphrases. In just the past year alone, there were reports of attempts to obtain trademarks on “Linsanity” (Jeremy Lin), “Tebowing” (Tim Tebow), “Flying Squirrel” (Gabby Douglas), “Fierce Five” (U.S. women's gymnastics team), “Jeah!” (Ryan Lochte), “Unbelievably Unbelievable” (Robert Griffin III), “Fear the Brow” (Anthony Davis), “Man on a Mission” (Austin Rivers) and “The Black Falcon” (Harrison Barnes), in addition to Harper's “Clown Question.”

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