Pats star Brady denied ‘Tom Terrific’ trademark

New York (AFP) – New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said he didn’t even want to be known as “Tom Terrific” and that’s just as well since US patent officials have decreed that nickname belongs to Mets baseball legend Tom Seaver.

The US Patent and Trademark office has rejected Brady’s attempt to trademark “Tom Terrific” on the basis that baseball great Seaver, fondly known by the moniker borrowed from a TV cartoon 50 years ago, is still alive and the only US sports figure with claim to the name.

Brady’s attempt to trademark the nickname in June sparked a fierce backlash from Mets fans.

The six-time Super Bowl winner then explained he was trying to prevent the use of the name in relation to himself “because some people wanted to use it”.

But he didn’t drop his trademark application, which was rejected Thursday in a ruling posted on the US Patent and Trademark Office website.

According to the United States government, “the mark TOM TERRIFIC points uniquely and unmistakably to the identification of Tom Seaver and the fame of Tom Seaver as ‘Tom Terrific’ is such that a connection between Mr. Seaver and the applied-for goods is presumed.”

Seaver, a three-time Cy Young Award-winner, won the 1969 World Series with the Mets.

He has been diagnosed with dementia and his family said in March he would no longer make public appearances.

Shortly after that, the Mets and New York City named a street outside the team’s Citi Field Seaver Way.