The business of Jeremy Lin is doing just fine, thank you very much. And the Knick point guard has every intention of making “Linsanity” all his own, in the legal sense. Per Bloomberg: “Jeremy Lin wants to own the term ‘Linsanity.’ Lin, who has rejuvenated the New York Knicks over the past two weeks, moved to take control of the catch phrase that’s encapsulated his meteoric rise, filing an application on Feb. 13 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to the agency’s website. The filing came six days after Yenchin Chang, a 35-year-old Alhambra, California, resident with no ties to Lin, became the first to apply for a Linsanity trademark, according to the website. A second filing was made on Feb. 9 by Andrew W. Slayton of Los Altos, California, and on Feb. 14 there was another filing by Yoonsoo Stephen Kim of Duluth, Georgia. ‘We’re prepared to enforce his intellectual property rights,” Pamela M. Deese, a partner in the law firm Arent Fox LLP, said in a telephone interview, confirming that she had filed the application on Lin’s behalf. Trademark applications generally take about three months to be examined and published, according to Gary Krugman, a partner at the Washington-based firm of Sughrue Mion. As Lin, 23, is the subject of the phrase Linsanity, he would probably be successful in opposing an application filed earlier than his own, Krugman said. ‘Nobody can register a mark if it falsely suggests a connection with a person or an institution,’ Krugman said. ‘I would guess that Jeremy Lin would be able to oppose on the grounds that Linsanity points uniquely and unmistakably to him.’”
(H/T: PBT)
