This spring, Bill Belichick and his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, filed applications for several trademarks, including four with rights held by the New England Patriots, according to a report from ESPN’s Michael Rothstein. Each of those four applications was reportedly refused by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
As reported by ESPN, a Hudson-led TCE Rights Management tried to acquire trademarks in April for “Do Your Job (Bill’s Version),” “Ignore the Noise (Bill’s Version),” “The Belestrator (Bill’s Version)” and “No Days Off (Bill’s Version).”
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When explaining why it refused those TCE Rights Management trademark applications, the patent office said “it is likely consumers would be confused, mistaken or deceived as to the commercial source of the goods and/or services of the parties,” according to the ESPN report.
In 2009, the Patriots trademarked “The Belestrator.” In 2013, they secured “Do Your Job.” And in 2017, they trademarked both “No Days Off” and “Ignore the Noise,” per ESPN.
Among the other trademarks Belichick and Hudson filed applications for are “Chapel Bill (Bill’s Version),” “The Belichick Way” and “The All-Belichick Team,” according to the ESPN report. Those trademarks, however, didn’t have conflicting marks, per ESPN, which cited the patent office.
Belichick and his most notable former employer will always be linked. Belichick won six Super Bowls as Patriots head coach, teaming up with quarterback Tom Brady to establish an NFL dynasty that spanned the first two decades of the 21st century.
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But Brady’s departure for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020 and Belichick’s subsequent struggles in New England, followed by his messy parting with the organization in 2024, particularly with Patriots owner Robert Kraft, have complicated his legacy.
Granted Kraft said last week that he’s always intended to put up a Belichick statue next to Brady’s newly-revealed tribute outside of the Patriots’ Gillette Stadium once Belichick’s career is over, but Belichick has clearly taken offense to how the end of his Patriots tenure was handled by the organization he was synonymous with for more than two decades.
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UNC general manager Michael Lombardi and UNC assistant director of player personnel/pro liaison Frantzy Jourdain reportedly told the Patriots they would be banned from UNC a day before one of their scouts was scheduled to watch an August football practice in Chapel Hill.
Belichick seemed to confirm the report Saturday after his Tar Heels defeated Charlotte 20-3.
“It’s clear that I’m not welcome around their facility, so [they’re] not welcome at ours. Pretty simple,” Belichick said.
Current Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, who played linebacker on Belichick’s first three Super Bowl-winning teams in New England, pushed back against Belichick’s postgame quote during a weekly radio appearance on Monday.
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“To the best of my knowledge,” Vrabel said on WEEI, “Belichick is absolutely welcome at the Patriots’ facility.”
Vrabel pointed to Belichick attending Brady’s Patriots Hall of Fame ceremony at Gillette in 2024.
Belichick spent 24 seasons as New England’s head coach. Along the way, he ascended to GOAT status, just like his quarterback. But now there’s a wedge between him and the organization, and Belichick appears to be distancing himself, as further evidenced by ESPN’s trademark report this week.
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