The Alexandria man who appears to own the trademarks for several names that might be used by Washington’s now-nameless NFL team says he is willing to give the names away for free.
The man, Martin McCaulay, appeared to have applied for trademarks for several possible NFL team names, including the much-discussed Washington Red Wolves. But on Tuesday, McCaulay took to Twitter to announce he would be giving away the names for free.
Hi everyone I need to clear something up. I want them to change the name and am embarrassed if I did anything that slows that down. I thought if I hoarded all the good names that would keep someone else who might be a pain in the neck from getting them.
— Martin McCaulay (@MartinMcCaulay) July 14, 2020
On Twitter, McCaulay went on to describe his motives for buying the team names. He insisted he had not applied for the trademarks as a money-making scheme, and that he may have to hire a trademark attorney simply to give the names to the team for free. McCaulay also said he wasn’t giving the rights to Washington football owner Dan Snyder, but to the National Football League.
The announcement comes as the Washington Post reports that many of the names that Snyder’s team was seeking already had trademark applications attached to them, leading some to wonder if the legal process might delay the announcement of a new name for the Washington football team.
