Johnny Manziel has yet to play a single snap of regular season NFL football but he has already filed for more trademarked nicknames than Cleveland had wins last season.
According to ESPN, the latest nickname that Manziel has filed to trademark is “Johnny Cleveland” which seems about as forced and awkward as a nickname can get. In all, Manziel has applied for trademarks on ten nicknames, almost all of which have a better ring to it than “Johnny Cleveland.”
Johnny Cleveland is the 10th trademark filed by the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner’s company. Earlier this year, he reached a resolution with an investment firm he was battling with for the Johnny Football mark, although it is still not registered with the USPTO. Manziel has since signed an endorsement deal with Nike, which has used the mark on T-shirts.
Other trademarks filed for include JFF, ManzIIiel and The House That Johnny Built, a reference to the newly renovated Kyle Field at Texas A&M that will be completed next season.
The most remarkable part of this story is that there were two other people who filed to trademark “Johnny Cleveland” (their claims were ultimately rejected because the US Patent Office found the term to be in reference to Manziel, and Manziel had not given his permission). That’s right. This horrible nickname was somehow thought up independently by several people who all thought that it was valuable enough to try and trademark.
He’s Johnny Football. Let’s leave it at that.
