Tom Brady’s effort to steal “Tom Terrific” from Tom Seaver and the New York Mets has failed as his patent was rejected by the USPTO Thursday.
Tom Brady is 0-2 against the New York Giants in Super Bowls and is now 0-1 against the New York Mets in patent battles. Brady attempted to patent the nickname “Tom Terrific,” which is, of course, the nickname of the most iconic Met ever, Tom Seaver.
Seaver was given the nickname “Tom Terrific” after leading the Mets out of futility and into the 1969 World Series, which they won over the Baltimore Orioles. It was inspired by an old cartoon, but has since become associated with none other than Seaver. Mets fans were, of course, very unhappy with Brady for attempting to steal that nickname.
Mets fans can now rejoice, as the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected Brady’s attempt to claim the nickname. The USPTO gave several reasons for refusing to issue the patent, all revolving around Seaver’s nickname.
The decision was explained by the office as follows:
“In this case, TOM TERRIFIC makes an association with former American baseball player Tom Seaver. The term at issue need not be the actual, legal name of the party falsely associated with applicant’s mark to be unregistrable under Section 2(a) … Here, the information and evidence provided in the Letter of Protest, dated August 4, 2019, demonstrates that the mark sought to be registered, TOM TERRIFIC, is the same as the nickname used to identify Tom Seaver, an American professional baseball player.”
The ruling states that the nickname is too closely associated with Seaver to be patented by Brady, despite the fact that it was not Seaver’s given name. A nickname can also be protected by the office.
They also denied the ruling because the association with Seaver could potentially lead to people falsely associating Brady with Seaver’s brand.
“For purposes of Section 2(c), a name in a mark identifies a particular living individual if the person bearing the name will be associated with the mark as used on the goods or services because: “(1) the person is so well known that the public would reasonably assume a connection between the person and the goods or services; or (2) the individual is publicly connected with the business in which the mark is used.”
New York has claimed another victory over Tom Brady, and this time it doesn’t look like it’ll be followed by a controversy ending in “gate.”
