The Eagles filed a trademark application for ‘kelly green.’ Here’s what it would cover.
The Birds also recently applied for a trademark on the phrase “Brotherly Shove.”
Kelly green — that specific shade of green that tints your decades-old Eagles memories and haunts those who had to face a Buddy Ryan defense or try to stop Randall Cunningham — is synonymous with the Birds.
And with the team reintroducing the rest of America to the color with their wildly popular throwback jerseys this season, an entirely new generation of Eagles fans is set to make its own memories of the Eagles playing in kelly green. The team is off to a good start in that respect with a win over the Miami Dolphins in their first kelly green game.
Memories are great, but the Birds want to take it a step further.
The Eagles don’t just want to be the first thing you think of when you hear kelly green. They want to be the only thing. Legally.
On Oct. 31, the organization filed a trademark application for the phrase “kelly green” as it applies to “education and entertainment services in the nature of professional football games and organizing exhibitions for sporting purposes.”
But the application, which was first reported by trademark attorney Josh Gerben, intends to cover much more than that. While the Eagles are not looking to trademark the actual color — and they previously filed for a trademark on the old-school eagle logo that appears on their kelly green jerseys and related merchandise — they are looking to basically prohibit anyone from using that phrase in relation to anything involving football or other sporting exhibitions.
The team also included lines in the filing that would restrict the use of the phrase on “cable, satellite, television and radio” and in the “production of radio and television programs” as well as live shows. It even goes so far as to restrict fan clubs from using the phrase.
The Eagles are no strangers to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. As previously mentioned, they filed a trademark on their retro logo last year shortly before owner Jeffrey Lurie announced that the team would bring kelly green back. And just last month, they filed a trademark on the phrase “Brotherly Shove” that would prevent others from making money off merchandise relating to their now famous (and still controversial) quarterback sneak play.
There’s no doubt that kelly green is far more ubiquitous than the “Brotherly Shove” — and the overwhelming success of the team’s relaunch of its retro uniforms from the late 1980s and early 1990s suggests they won’t be going away any time soon.
“I think this should just be the normal uniform,” Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith said. “This should be an every-game thing.”
While that might not be happening anytime soon, fans clearly love kelly green, with demand for the gear so high that it sold out stores and caused months-long shipping delays when the team first released it over the summer.
“There’s a lot of people in our age group that remember those jerseys and that they represent a tough, take-no-[bleep] brand of football,” former Eagles linebacker Seth Joyner said. “This takes you back.”
The Eagles will next wear their kelly green jerseys when they host the Buffalo Bills on Nov. 26.