Tim Tebow battling website founders over ‘Tebowing’ trademark
Tim Tebow is battling two website creators over the trademark rights to the term “Tebowing,†and it looks like he will be successful.
Shortly after Tebow became the starting quarterback for the Broncos and led the team to a comeback win in Miami, the “Tebowing†trend began. The savvy fan who began the “Tebowing†movement decided to create a website after realizing how popular the trend was, and he named it Tebowing.com.
That fan, Jared Kleinstein, filed filed paperwork with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the rights to Tebowing four days after creating the site. He and another website operator who sells Tebowing merchandise were turned down on their attempt to trademark “Tebowing†because of a “false connection†to a living individual, Newsday reports. Tebow’s lawyer had protested each of their applications and got the ruling in his client’s favor. Both Kleinstein and the other creator have a chance to respond to their trademark request by August 22.
Kleinstein works in real estate and began the site as a side venture. He told Newsday he won’t lose sleep over the trademark issue. Even though he filed to trademark Tebowing two months before Tebow did, that means little based on the law.
We saw a similar issue when arise Jeremy Lin’s lawyers sent a cease and desist letter to marijuana shops that were selling a strain of the drug named “Linsanity.†As we learned in that case, both Tebowing websites could even have to disgorge profits.
H/T The Postgame
Larry Brown has over nine years of professional sports media experience, working in online, radio, and TV capacities. He recently was a nationally syndicated sports radio host. Follow him on twitter @LBSports |
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