Who’s the greatest No. 8? The importance of creativity in athlete brand building & trademark registration

When you think of the No. 8 on a sports jersey, which professional athlete comes to mind first – Kobe Bryant? Cal Ripken Jr.? Alex Ovechkin? Perhaps even Yogi Berra (for those “seasoned” N.Y. Yankees fans)? Certainly, these are all extraordinary players with a legitimate claim to being the “Greatest 8” of them all, but this is a discussion that is more likely to occur on a bar stool than at the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB).

Nevertheless, Lamar Jackson and Troy Aikman, one a current and the other a former quarterbacking great, have chosen to settle their score at the TTAB rather than at a sports bar.  Jackson, of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens, has challenged the trademark application of Aikman, formerly of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, for the trademark “EIGHT” in International Class 25 on the basis of likelihood of confusion with Jackson’s own trademark registrations for the mark “YOU 8 YET?” and the design mark:

(and prior pending applications for the marks “ERA 8” and “ERA 8 BY LAMAR JACKSON”), all in the same class.  In the opposition, Jackson also alleges that Aikman’s EIGHT mark creates a “false suggestion of a connection” with Jackson, who asserts that he is “well-known by this number due to his notoriety and fame, along with his promotion of this number in his trademarks and in media coverage.”^[1]

This dispute raises interesting questions for athletes: is a jersey number really a solid basis upon which to build one’s own brand? And are there more effective means upon which to build a personal brand?  This article examines these questions, and aims to stress the importance of exercising creativity when athletes are seeking to build their personal brand:

• The basics of brand building and trademark registration at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
• Proving “false suggestion of a connection”
• Could “creative additions” help?
• The importance of creativity in athlete brand building