'Linsanity' Trademark Race: Jumping Through Hoops To Secure Rights

In the latest attempt to game the U.S. trademark system, Jeremy Lin followers are making their own play to profit on the Knicks' sensation.

One of Lin's high school coaches and another California man have filed trademark applications for "Linsanity," Bloomberg News reported. Earning the rights to the term most associated with Lin's instant celebrity could mean big bucks in royalties for its usage on merchandise like T-shirts and hats.

Andrew Slayton, who said he served as an unofficial assistant for Lin's team at Palo Alto High School, is already selling $20 Linsanity T-shirts on Linsanity.com, a domain he purchased in 2010. He filed for trademark rights Feb. 9, the news agency said. The New York Post reported that Slayton also registered the domain name thejeremylinshow.com, which as of this writing had no content.

Yenchin Chang, who shares Lin's Taiwanese background, was a bit quicker on the trademark drive. The 35-year-year-old Alhambra, Calif., man filed filed Feb. 7 to cover goods and services.

One trademark attorney in the story doubted either would win, calling the moves a "bad-faith" attempt to make money off of Lin's emergence.

In one of the more bizarre cases of someone capitalizing on a sports moment, Coach Pat Riley registered the term "three-peat" in 1988, as his Lakers team was attempting to win a third straight NBA title. (The team failed.) Riley has reportedly made an undisclosed amount of money on "three-peat," and he didn't even come up with the catch-phrase. He said his shooting guard at the time, Byron Scott, did.

The tendency to capitalize on a popular catch phrase isn't limited to sports. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office received a rash of applications to trademark phrases associated with the Occupy movement as it gained in popularity last fall.

But who could blame anyone for trying to make a buck on Lin's fairy-tale run? According to Nbastore.com, the undrafted Harvard grad's jersey has been the NBA's top seller since Feb. 4, when Lin took over the team, guiding it to seven straight victories with transcendent play. He's also selling out arenas where the Knicks play, according to ABCnews.com.

The kid is money. So is Linsanity.

Comments

[kevsf1980]

05:15 PM on 02/18/2012

So are all those fake $13.00 "Linsanity" China T-Shirts coming down on ebay?

[spkninglsh]

11:00 AM on 02/17/2012

Lindiculous. That should be illingal.

[Frog in a pot]

04:14 AM on 02/17/2012

Wish i had thought of it.

[Sunny Decoy]

10:31 PM on 02/16/2012

Linning said ala charlie sheen is my fav so far

[lawsontiml]

09:36 PM on 02/16/2012

Surprised Linsey Lohan didn't copyright it first !!!!!!

[secular first]

10:17 PM on 02/16/2012

I'm sorry, but I have to ask, what compelled you to write that?

[Mitsy]

09:32 PM on 02/16/2012

Such a shame. Capitalist in its truest form..to think they would not have had this if he was not named Lin..If anything he should reap some of those profits..that's his official name..but capitalism is at work here

[secular first]

10:19 PM on 02/16/2012

Remember when there were like three parties trying to copyright seal team 6, after they took out Osama? Just plenty of people trying to make money without working for it. So yeah, capitalism.

[Demarcus Jackson]

09:20 PM on 02/16/2012

Ahh...I love the smell of captialism in the morning!

[ESerafina42]

09:17 PM on 02/16/2012

I've already got my nomination for most idiotic (and omnipresent) new "word" of the year.

[EvieEve]

09:16 PM on 02/16/2012

I think the only one who should be able to trademark this is Jeremy Lin himself.

[born 2b different]

09:15 AM on 02/17/2012

Then why didn't he?

[kevsf1980]

05:19 PM on 02/18/2012

I agree that he should of trademarked the term "Linsanity" himself, but why did he do it so late? So he had to wait until those Chinese factory t-shirt companies come out with those $13.00 shirts off ebay, he finally realized it. I actually think he loved it because on TV, he actually liked the Knicknames. Like Super Lin-Tendo, Lin-Credible, etc.

[Master-T]

08:15 PM on 02/16/2012

Typical Americans that don't want honest work. A new scam every day for the lazy American.

[KarateKid]

08:58 PM on 02/16/2012

Yeah, this country became the superpower it is because we are all lazy, indolent and don't work.

*snickering*

[Moe Love]

09:00 PM on 02/16/2012

Can you please define Honest Work?

And did you miss the part of the article that says a man named, Yenchin Chang, was the 1st to file the paperwork. Definitely sounds like a "Typical American" to me

[stjoshy]

09:07 PM on 02/16/2012

hahaha

[Paul Replogle]

05:56 PM on 02/17/2012

So there is a name that typifies the typical American?

[bagelmart]

07:51 PM on 02/16/2012

That's Linsane!

[Mitsy]

09:31 PM on 02/16/2012

cute..lol

[loki]

07:24 PM on 02/16/2012

of course they wont win. They are not a super rich corporations or person, so they wont get the Rights to it. That is American Capitalism. Only Rich get first dibs on anything they want.

[notdarkyet]

05:47 PM on 02/16/2012

Probably will last as long as the pet rock.

[bcwms1963]

10:58 PM on 02/16/2012

yeah that would a dream result... Pet rocks $$$$ beyound belief and they still sell'm

[Ummahstream Worldtv]

03:02 PM on 02/16/2012

ever heard of over hype?

[Niki Zimmerman]

02:24 PM on 02/16/2012

The Greed of people never ceases to amaze me....

[born 2b different]

09:16 AM on 02/17/2012

Greed or spotting a good opportunity?