Tom Brady's Application for 'Tom Terrific' Trademark Denied by USPTO

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has denied New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's attempt to trademark the nickname "Tom Terrific," according to ESPN's Mike Reiss.

The USPTO officially rejected Brady's application Thursday due to the fact "the applied-for mark consists of or includes matter which may falsely suggest a connection with [Hall of Fame pitcher] Tom Seaver."

The six-time Super Bowl champ filed for the trademark back in June, a move that caught the attention of the baseball world. "Tom Terrific" has long been the nickname of Seaver, who spent 20 years pitching in the majors from 1967 to 1986.

Seaver's resume includes 12 All-Star selections, three National League Cy Young awards, one World Series championship and one no-hitter. He is a member of both the 300-win (311) and 3,000-strikeout (3,640) clubs.

As Brady received some backlash for applying for the trademark, he expressed regret while explaining the move was made in order to try to keep others from using it on him: 

"It's unfortunate. I was actually trying to do something because I didn't like the nickname and I wanted to make sure no one used it, because some people wanted to use it. I was trying to keep people from using it, and then it got spun around to something different than what it is. Good lesson learned, and I'll try to do things a little different in the future ...

"It wasn't something I was trying to do out of any disrespect or ill manner or anything like that."

Brady has six months to respond to the USPTO's decision or the case will be dropped.