Darrelle Revis, cornerback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, finally obtained a registered trademark for the term “Revis Island.”   Browsing the media, there seems to be a common misconception when it comes to the reasons it took nearly three years for Mr. Revis to obtain registration after he filed an application on January 7, 2010.

Trademarks are meant to identify the source of goods or services.  With that said, in order for a certain mark to be considered a trademark, it actually needs to be in use.  Mr. Revis, however, did not file his application for the class of services of “shutdown cornerback.”  Taking a closer look, it is noted that the original application was filed as an intent-to-use (“ITU”) application.  The identified goods meant to be covered by this term are “t-shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, hats, footwear, sleepwear, and swimwear.”  Mr. Revis was merely saving the name for his future use on clothing, evidenced by the numerous renewals that were filed every six months.

After filing an ITU application, the owner of the mark needs to file renewals otherwise the application will go abandoned.  Once the owner has used the mark “in commerce” as is required for a trademark, he or she will file a “statement of use” in order to convert the ITU application to one that identifies a trademark in use.  In this case, Mr. Revis provided a specimen of footwear to identify that the mark “REVIS ISLAND” is currently in use:

Having shown that the term was now being used, “Revis Island” met the qualifications for a valid trademark used “in commerce.”

You can see the whole application here:  REVIS ISLAND – US Registration 4407286