After all these years, Kobe Bryant filed to trademark 'Black Mamba'
Want to use the term "Black Mamba" on some Kobe Bryant merchandise? You'll have to pay the legend to do it.
By
Zach Harper
•
1 min read
Back in 2003, Los Angeles Lakers' legend Kobe Bryant started calling himself the "Black Mamba." He had seen the Kill Bill movies and he was dealing with his trial in Colorado, and his adoption of this nickname was a way of coping with what he was going through. It helped him focus on the game, and he felt he identified with the Black Mamba mentality after reading up on the deadly animal.
Since then, it's just been a part of the lexicon when discussing one of the greatest and most polarizing players we've ever seen in this league. And yet, nobody has ever trademarked the term specifically for Kobe. We've had this thing for roughly 13 years and nobody thought, "We should be the only ones making money off of this." That is until now. Kobe Inc., which handles the business side of Kobe's life, has finally filed to trademark "Black Mamba."
Kobe Inc., the business arm of recently retired Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, has filed to trademark his familiar nickname "Black Mamba."
The company filed for the trademark May 2, a record with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office shows, with intent to use the nickname on everything from athletic apparel to sneakers.
Neither Bryant, nor Nike, who pays him to endorse its shoes and has used the nickname in marketing, ever has trademarked the term.
It's stunning to me this took so long to happen. Kobe has a pretty big brand with Nike, and this trademarking of the nickname will be used on the stuff they sell in his clothing and sneaker line. But that this was out there for more than a decade and nobody ever got around to it is sort of unbelievable. Kobe has been pretty smart about marketing himself, especially in the later years of his career. And Nike is almost always out in front of its marketing.
This just apparently slipped through the cracks or never occurred to anybody until Kobe Inc. took care of it in early May. What's next? Trademarking "Bean" for him?
