From the “just so there’s no misunderstanding” department, Newsweek reports that Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch has now registered his oft-repeated phrase I’M JUST HERE SO I WON’T GET FINED as a trademark. Lynch filed to protect his “trademark” saying with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in February 2015, and the mark issued as U.S. Registration No. 4878656 on December 29, 2015. The registration covers “athletic shirts; baseball caps and hats; beanies; fleece pullovers; hooded pullovers; hooded sweat shirts; pullovers; short-sleeved or long-sleeved t-shirts; sweat shirts; t-shirts; track jackets” in International Class 25, and Lynch’s BEAST MODE® clothing line has been selling clothing items bearing the I’M JUST HERE SO I WON’T GET FINED mark since April 2015. In addition to providing federal trademark protection for the mark, Lynch’s registration provides some much-needed clarity to the question of why, exactly, Lynch is here, which further illustrates the myriad benefits offered by trademark registration, as well as the indispensable role that trademark attorneys play in modern society. Read the article here, and explain the reason for your own presence here. From Newsweek.

By Keith Allison (Flickr) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.