Jeremy Lin Wants To Copyright “Linsanity”

Chris Trotman, Getty Images

You probably won’t be surprised about this, but Jeremy Lin would rather have control over his name. And following his astronomical rise to fame, there’s been a just as astronomical rise in pirate Linsanity merchandise. But can he trademark his own name?

The answer, surprisingly, is “yes”. For example, a website in California selling “Linsanity” merchandise is headed towards a bad day in court; California has a “right to publicity” law that says celebrities can’t have their names used without their consent.

He might have a little trouble, though: some enterprising entrepreneurs filed for a “Linsanity” trademark a few days before he did. Unfortunately for them, copyright law tends to frown on what amounts to identity theft, so Jeremy Lin might soon be the only one making “Linsanity” T-shirts.

The most interesting thing about his patent application? It covers putting “Linsanity” on all forms of clothing. And we mean ALL forms of clothing: it specifically mentions underwear, among other garments, in the patent filing. We love the way he plays…but we’re not sure we want to have “Linsanity” on our boxers. Either way, time to update our list of ten things you need to know about Lin.

[ via Huffington Post ]