An American Football star is set to duel with two fans over the right to trademark ‘Tebowing’.
New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow, 24, is looking to secure intellectual property rights to the term, which relates to the NFL star’s on-field praying stance.
‘Tebowing’, which is derived from the sportsman’s surname, has become an internet sensation – with fans posting pictures of themselves ‘tebowing’ and posting them on the web.
Jared Kleinstein, a 24-year-old NFL fan from Manhattan, is also seeking a trademark for the term, reports Scripps News.
He claims to have invented the word ‘tebowing’, and brought it to the attention of the online community through his photo-based website tebowing.com.
The third applicant is Jason Vollmer of Jacksonville Beach, Florida, who currently sells ‘Tebowing’ T-shirts and stickers on his website tebowinggear.com
All three parties believe they have the legal rights to the trademark and are using the necessary legal channels to secure intellectual property protection.
Tim Tebow’s attorney Anthony Keats claimed that awarding the Tebowing trademark to someone other than the quarterback was likely to cause confusion.
He said it would give the impression that the Jets’ player is connected to the products being sold, when this is not actually the case.
Speaking last week, Tebow – an active Christian evangelist – noted that he was “not the first athlete that’s gotten on a knee and prayed”.
“But somehow it’s known as Tebowing and I’m not sure why… It’s not all a bad thing,” he added.
“If somehow people are talking about prayer, or talking about my faith, I think that’s pretty cool.”