Bill Belichick, Jordon Hudson Denied 4 'Bill's Version' Trademarks by USPTO

Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson's attempt to trademark a handful of phrases has failed.

Per ESPN's Michael Rothstein, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refused four trademark attempts by the North Carolina football head coach and his girlfriend, citing a "likelihood of confusion" with previously filed trademarks as the reason.

According to Rothstein, the four trademarks Belichick and Hudson were refused were: "Do Your Job (Bill's Version)," "Ignore the Noise (Bill's Version)," "The Belestrator (Bill's Version)" and "No Days Off (Bill's Version)."

Rothstein noted that the New England Patriots, Belichick's former team, trademarked "The Belestrator" in 2009, "Do Your Job" in 2013 and both "No Days Off" and "Ignore the Noise" in 2017.

Belichick and Hudson attempted to put their own spin on the phrases by adding "Bill's Version," similar to pop star Taylor Swift re-releasing her albums as "Taylor's Version" when she did not own the rights to her music.

The USPTO didn't see enough variance between the Patriots' trademarks and "Bill's Version" of them.

"It was very obvious that the USPTO would refuse these applications from the start," said trademark attorney Josh Gerben of the firm Gerben IP, per Rothstein. "They're too similar. Like, I can't say I'm going to make 'Nike shoes (Josh's version).' Once somebody has a trademark registered on a name or a phrase, you're not able to just simply add something to it and get it registered."

According to Rothstein, TCE Rights Management, which represents Belichick, hoped to obtain the trademarks to use for clothing, audio and video streaming material, books and the production of media like films, podcasts and DVDs.

Gerben said that Belichick and Hudson can attempt to challenge whether the Patriots still use the trademarks or if Belichick had ownership of them in his contract.

While Belichick and Hudson were unable to trademark certain phrases similar to those the Patriots had trademarked, they were successful in trademarking a handful of other phrases, such as "Chapel Bill (Bill's Version)," "The Belichick Way" and "The All-Belichick Team."

Belichick and Hudson have another trademark pending as well, as they recently filed to trademark the term "Gold Digger" with the intention of using it to produce a line of jewelry and key chains.