Here’s Vince Young’s trademark application for ‘MAKE VINCE GREAT AGAIN’

Former Texas and NFL quarterback Vince Young is 34 years old, and he hasn’t taken a regular season snap since he appeared with the Eagles in 2011. Young has tried to revive his career, though, and he signed in March with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Sports Illustrated reporter Greg Bishop interviewed Young for a long story about him, and one nugget will jump out to all enthusiasts of intellectual property law:

Young applied for a trademark on the phrase “MAKE VINCE GREAT AGAIN.”

That means if any other Vinces want to become great again, they might not be able to do so in this exact form. The idea has obvious upside for Young.

Young really did apply for the trademark, according to records kept by the United Patent and Trademark Office. He filed his application on Feb. 19. Among the things on which Young does not want other people to use “Make Vince Great Again:”

Entertainment in the nature of competitions in the field of sports, athletics, self- and personal improvement; Entertainment in the nature of football games; Entertainment in the nature of ongoing television programs in the field of sports, athletics, self- and personal improvement; Entertainment in the nature of sports and athletic tournaments; Entertainment services in the nature of a non-fiction television programming series on topics relating to family stories told by family members to preserve their heritage.

It doesn’t appear that Young will ever play a game for Saskatchewan. He recently tore a hamstring, and the team retained his rights but put him on its “retired list,” Bishop reported. (He was not cut from the organization, as some reports indicated.)

Young’s application hasn’t yet been approved, and that’s a process that takes months. I am not currently aware of anyone named Vince who’s been plotting to make money off this exact phrase, but if such a person exists, maybe he will now back off. The best businesspeople have a knack for thinking ahead, after all.