New England quarterback Tom Brady’s application to trademark the term “Tom Terrific” was officially refused by the USPTO on Thursday because “the applied-for mark consists of or includes matter which may falsely suggest a connection with Tom Seaver.” “Tom Terrific” is the nickname of Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver.
“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “I was actually trying to do something because I didn’t like the nickname and I wanted to make sure no one used it, because some people wanted to use it. I was trying to keep people from using it, and then it got spun around to something different than what it is. Good lesson learned, and I’ll try to do things a little different in the future …
“It wasn’t something I was trying to do out of any disrespect or ill manner or anything like that.”
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