USPTO rejects Bill Belichick’s bid to trademark four phrases tied to Patriots slogans
Applications filed by Belichick’s company were denied because the phrases were too similar to trademarks the New England Patriots already hold
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has refused four trademark applications filed by Bill Belichick’s company, concluding the proposed marks were likely to cause confusion with trademarks already held by the New England Patriots.
TCE Rights Management LLC, a company controlled by the 73-year-old coach and managed by his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, sought registrations for “Do Your Job (Bill’s Version),” “Ignore the Noise (Bill’s Version),” “The Belestrator (Bill’s Version)” and “No Days Off (Bill’s Version).” The applications were filed for use on clothing, audio and video streaming material, books and the production of media.
In denying the applications, the USPTO said the marks without the parenthetical “Bill’s Version” had been registered previously by the Patriots and that consumers would likely be “confused, mistaken, or deceived as to the commercial source of the goods and/or services of the parties.” The office added that “the addition of a term to a registered mark has often been found to increase the similarity between the compared marks where, as in the present case, the dominant portion of the marks is the same.”
TCE Rights Management has three months from the USPTO’s refusal to file an appeal, the agency said.
Trademark attorney Josh Gerben, writing on his website, said Belichick’s strategy echoed singer Taylor Swift’s use of “Taylor’s Version,” but that the legal situation differs because Swift’s issues centered on copyright rather than trademark law. “The song titles were not protected by trademarks (as the title of a ‘single work of art’ is not protectable as a trademark), therefore, she could simply add ‘Taylor’s Version’ at the end of the song title and re-release the new recording,” Gerben wrote. “Belichick’s case is much different. Trademark law is about brands — names that identify products or services. Adding ‘Bill’s Version’ to an already registered trademark doesn’t create a new brand; it just makes a confusingly similar version of an existing one. That’s why the USPTO sided with the Patriots and denied Belichick’s applications.”
Gerben added that another legal route would be to petition to cancel the Patriots’ existing registrations if those marks are not being actively used, which could open the door for new filings.
The denied applications underscore the role trademarks play in protecting sports-related branding beyond team use and highlight the legal distinction between branding under trademark law and creative works under copyright. The Patriots had registered the phrases in earlier years, and the USPTO’s ruling reflects a standard that favors preventing marketplace confusion when similar marks are attached to related goods and services.
Belichick, a longtime NFL head coach with a storied run in New England before moving to college coaching, has previously been associated with several catchphrases and slogans. The decision leaves open the possibility of an appeal by TCE Rights Management, a challenge to the Patriots’ registrations, or alternative branding approaches should Belichick seek to commercialize similar material.
