When you spend 24 years in the same place as Bill Belichick did with the New England Patriots, you tend to become known for a few things. For Belichick, you’d have to start with his long list of accomplishments, like ranking second on the NFL’s all-time wins list for head coaches, or his best claim to fame, becoming a six-time Super Bowl champion.
Throughout that time, Belichick also became known for a few other things, like his famous mantras. One of them, was Belichick’s popular phrase of “Do Your Job.”
Recently, Belichick attempted to file for a series of trademarks with the U.S. Patent Office in an attempt to capitalize on his popularity. It didn’t work.
Among those trademarks was the aforementioned, ‘Do Your Job” phrase that became so popular inside the New England Patriots‘ organization. But that was only one of four trademarks that were rejected.
He also filed to trademark “Ignore the Noise (Bill’s Version),” “The Belestrator (Bill’s Version),” and “No Days Off (Bill’s Version).” But again, all four filings were denied.
The U.S. Patent Office declared that Belichick’s trademarks were rejected in part because they would fuel a “likelihood of confusion” with other filings. Considering the Patriots already hold the rights on all those same trademarks Belichick and Jordon Hudson were seeking, it’s no surprise that these got rejected. In fact, it was “obvious” from the start.
“It was very obvious that the USPTO would refuse these applications from the start,” said trademark attorney Josh Gerben of the firm Gerben IP. “They’re too similar. Like, I can’t say I’m going to make ‘Nike shoes (Josh’s version).’ Once somebody has a trademark registered on a name or a phrase, you’re not able to just simply add something to it and get it registered.”
The Patriots previously trademarked “The Belestrator” in 2009 and “Do Your Job” in 2013. Later in 2017, they added “No Days Off” and “Ignore The Noise.”
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Sports fan since birth. I am also passionate about cars, music, and anything funny. Minnesotan, born and raised. Maybe ... More about Andrew Buller-Russ