Jeremy Lin applies to trademark "Linsanity"

Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks looks on against the Sacramento Kings at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 15, 2012 in New York City.

Now that New York Knicks player Jeremy Lin is a star, he is going to preserve a now-popular name in a legal and marketing sense.

The Huffington Post reported Friday that Lin applied to trademark "Linsanity" earlier this week and coughed up a $1,625 filing fee to use the name on apparel.

The move was confirmed by a Lin representative. "We're prepared to protect his intellectual property rights," said Pam Deese of the law firm Arent Fox.

 

Lin's application filing for the trademark comes in the wake of two men from California who also applied to trademark "Linsanity," according to Bloomberg News. One of them,Yenchin Chang, who works in the import/export business, said in an interview: "I wanted to be a part of the excitement. I'm very proud of Jeremy."

Another person, Andrew Slayton, made a filing to trademark "Linsanity" as well. According to The Huffington Post, Slayton reportedly purchased the domain name www.linsanity.com. Slayton's Web site sells T-shirts that say "LINsanity" and "Just LIN Baby." Another T-shirt has the No. 17, which is Lin's jersey number.

 

Slayton, however, could run into a problem with regards to California's "right to publicity" law, which safeguards celebrities' names from commercial use without their permission.

One person from a sports consulting firm has this advice for Lin: "Jeremy Lin needs to be careful and hire the right advisors and lawyers to protect his name," Sportscorp Ltd.'s president Marc Ganis told Reuters. "There are people all over the planet who are looking to financially capitalize on the Jeremy Lin phenomenon."