Patent Office to Tom Brady: You Are Not 'Terrific'

Tom Brady can still be terrific. He just can't be Terrific, the US Patent and Trademark Office has decided. The star Patriots quarterback had applied for trademark protection for the "Tom Terrific" nickname, which has long been applied to baseball Hall of Famer Tom Seaver, 74. The applications by Brady's company involved commercial uses of the nickname on trading cards, posters and shirts, reports Boston.com. Such uses would "falsely suggest a connection" with the retired Mets pitcher, the ruling said. Because the nickname refers "uniquely and unmistakably” to Seaver, he'd have to agree to Brady's trademarking of it.

Brady's application outraged many fans, especially Mets fans, and he said he didn't intend to actually cash in on the nickname. He doesn't like it, he said, and just wanted to keep others from selling products calling him "Tom Terrific." The quarterback said: "It wasn't something I was trying to do out of any disrespect or ill manner or anything like that," per ESPN, calling the episode a "good lesson learned." The trademark applications will be dropped automatically unless Brady responds within six months to the ruling. (More Tom Brady stories.)