Terrell Owens Trademarks

Terrell Owens is a former professional football player in the NFL. He is widely considered one of the sport’s top wide receivers and played for fifteen seasons.

Terrell Owens is from Alexander City, Alabama, where he was raised by his mother and grandmother. Even though Jerry Rice was his idol growing up, the young Owens was not allowed to participate in sports until he entered high school. Then he played football, basketball, baseball, and ran track.

Owens continued to participate in track, basketball, and football at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. In basketball, he helped to take his team to the 1995 NCAA Basketball Tournament. In track, as a senior, he anchored the team for the 4 × 100 relay at the NCAA championship. Owens performed best in football however and at the end of his senior year, he was invited to play in the Senior Bowl.

Since Owens did not collegiately play for a major football program, he was not well known to football scouts. Because of this, he was not drafted until the third round of the 1996 NFL Draft, when he was selected by the San Francisco 49ers. He played on special teams until his idol, Jerry Rice, suffered an injury and Owens became the starter. His first 100-yard game would occur in his third season with the team. He played for the 49ers until 2004. During his time with the team, he set records for the most receptions in a single game and the most receiving yards in a Sunday game.

After a contract dispute, Owens signed a seven-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles for almost $50 million. His time with the team was tumultuous at best and the Eagles released him in March of 2006. In his short time with the team, he set records for most receiving touchdowns in a single season and most receiving yards per game in a season.

The Dallas Cowboys signed Owens to a three-year deal, after his release from the Eagles. In his first season with the Cowboys, he completed 13 touchdowns with a finger so injured, that it required surgery at the end of the season. With the Cowboys, he set team records for most consecutive games with a receiving touchdown, most touchdown receptions in a single game, and most receiving yards per game.

It was during his time with the Cowboys that he coined the catchphrase, “getcha popcorn ready.” In 2007, he celebrated a touchdown with popcorn, which became a legendary celebration in NFL lore. Shortly after the celebration, Owens applied for a trademark for “GETCHA POPCORN READY” for use with clothing that included t-shirts, hats, pants, and more.

Owens went on to play for the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, setting records with both of those teams as well. After his NFL career, he played football in the Indoor Football League, American Flag Football League, and Canadian Football League. He currently plays for the Zappers in Fan Controlled Football.

After Owens’ NFL career ended, he was encouraged by his friend, costume designer Roemehl Hawkins, to start his own clothing company. He then created Prototype 81, named after the #81 jersey that he wore for most of his career. Owens dedicated an extraordinary amount of time to learning the clothing and fashion industries. Because of this, he did not simply lend his name to the brand, he built the brand from the ground up and is its primary designer. He credits much of the line’s early success to his name recognition but hopes the quality of his products creates brand loyalty.

Through Prototype81, he obtained a federal trademark registration for “PROTOTYPE81” for shirts, hoodies, sweatpants, and shorts in 2016. The company also filed a trademark application for two logos for the brand. In 2022, Prototype81 also filed a trademark application for “PEOPLE ARE COMPLICATED” and “LXXXI” (the roman numeral 81, another nod to his jersey number) for additional clothing items.

In June of 2021, after years of not discussing the subject, Owens finally began to talk about the racism that he had experienced, not just from angry fans, but from systemic problems within the NFL itself. He made several very public statements, rallied behind former-NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and began working to publicly advocate for social justice causes. Around this time, Owens applied for a trademark for a logo with the words “TERRELL OWENS’ E/RACE RACISM CHALLENGE” for athletic and sports event services centered around races and for clothing items like sweatshirts, jerseys, jackets, and more.

Owens also applied for a trademark for “LOFT81HOME” for online retail services that feature home décor in 2022. This is a new extension of Owens’ brand.

Owens is believed to have a net worth of around $3 million. He was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio in 2018.