Yankees slugger Aaron Judge just won a legal battle giving him the rights to his signature slogans, marking the latest homer to add to his stat sheet.
Aaron Judge — 1. Random Long Island man — O.
Yankees star Aaron Judge usually swings his bat in the name of the common folk of New York City, but this time, he took one of the locals down. On Wednesday, the United States Patent and Trademark Office ruled that the catchphrases “All Rise” and “Here Comes The Judge” belong to Judge due to a “preponderance of the evidence.”
The ruling knocks down Long Island native Michael P. Chisena, who claimed he should be able to sell merchandise with those catchphrases since he technically filed to trademark them first.
This bitter legal battle has nonetheless come to an end, and one judge has declared the winner to be another Judge.
To the victor go the spoils. The New York Yankees slugger could receive millions of dollars in merchandise sales now that he owns the rights to his two signature slogans; Judge also received the rights to a logo which features the scales of justice balancing baseballs.
Given Judge’s superstar status, he has a plethora of opportunities to cash in on these trademarks himself, and he’s no doubt relieved that this legal spat, which has been dragging on since his 2017 rookie season, is finally over.
Aaron Judge wins in court, too: Yankees star defeats man trying to steal his signature catchphrases
Judge already has lucrative sponsorship deals with Adidas, Pepsi, and several other industry giants, and he inked a $360 million extension with the Yankees last year. The potential cash flow that would come from selling his branded merchandise probably wasn’t the main factor in Judge’s motive to block Chisena — it was the principle of the thing.
Chisena apparently wasn’t even a fan of the MLB and claimed he wasn’t aware that the trademarked phrases were linked to Judge. He’s never even been to Yankee Stadium, according to The Athletic’s article on the ruling.
One can’t ignore the savvy timing of Chisena’s trademark filings throughout the years, though. He first tried to trademark Judge’s slogans in the summer of 2017, when Aaron Judge fever (52 homers in his first year!) was reaching its peak in NYC and spreading to the rest of the nation. Chisena then filed to trademark the logo when the Yankees beat Cleveland to win the AL Division Series in October that same year.
This is what Administrative Trademark Judge David Heasley said of Chisena’s suspicious moves:
“(Chisena’s) timing, and choice of marks and colors are indeed eyebrow-raising, and his protestations of good faith strain credulity.”
The judge goes on to say that fans would associate the slogans and the symbol with Aaron Judge and therefore they should all belong to him.
Another day, another win for Aaron Judge.