Eight is Enough
This summer marks my 35th year of playing softball with my buddies. Each new season is always bittersweet because we can’t help thinking about our shortstop, Brad, who passed away in 2020. We retired his jersey number 8, that he chose in honor of his idol, Cal Ripken, Jr.
But Brad wasn’t the only one obsessed with the number 8.
JR Motorsports, the NASCAR racing team owned by Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., had a pending trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the number 8. He won 16 of his 26 victories in the No. 8 car when he drove for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. from 1999 to 2007. His father, Dale Earnhardt, owned the team until his death in 2001, and Junior’s stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt, took over.
Due to differences with his stepmother, Junior left DEI to join Hendrick Motorsports after the 2007 season. DEI, however, held the trademark rights to Junior’s number 8, even after the team shut down. Last year, Teresa let the rights expire, so Junior applied to trademark the number.
Junior isn’t the only athlete associated with the number, however. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson won two NFL MVP awards in 2019 and 2023 while wearing the number 8, the number he also wore in college at Louisville. He previously registered the trademark “ERA 8 by Lamar Jackson.” So, Jackson’s attorneys filed a notice of opposition to Junior’s trademark application with the U.S.P.T.O.
“Earnhardt Jr.’s mark falsely suggests a connection with persons, living or dead, namely, Lamar Jackson, who is well known by the No. 8,” Jackson’s team said in the notice of opposition. Jackson’s notice of opposition wasn’t challenging Junior for his stylized version of the number 8, as he uses a different style in a different font. Jackson claimed the application conflicts with his “Era 8” brand and argued that if Junior’s application was granted, it would “create a false suggestion of a connection” between the athletes.
Two days later, Junior announced on social media that he secured the right to his stylized version of number 8 but abandoned his application to trademark the number itself. Sports Illustrated reported on the issue, posting on Instagram that “Dale Earnhardt Jr., Lamar Jackson bury hatchet in brief trademark dispute.”
Troy Aikman, another legendary NFL quarterback who donned number 8, commented on the post, writing, “Lamar getting bad counsel. [I] Went through the same legalities with him. Who’s next?” FL101 Inc., a company tied to Aikman, owns nine trademarks with the term “EIGHT.”
In July of 2014, Jackson objected to FL101’s use of the word “EIGHT” on apparel and bags. Despite Aikman using the spelled out “EIGHT” and Jackson using the numeral, Jackson claimed Aikman’s merchandise could be confused with his.
Lamar said he “has expended considerable time, effort, and expense in promoting, advertising, and popularizing the number 8 in connection with his personality and fame [and] is well-known by this number due to his notoriety and fame, along with his promotion of this number in his trademarks and in media coverage.”
Lamar’s attorney filed the trademarks before Aikman, whose products are “highly similar in sound, appearance, connotation, and commercial impression.”
It would be interesting if NHL all-time scoring leader “Great Eight” Alex Ovechkin will weigh in on the matter. Or possibly the estate of Kobe Bryant or those of baseball Hall of Famers Carl Yastrzemski, Yogi Berra or Willie Stargell have thoughts.
For that matter, I wonder if William “The Refrigerator” Perry ever tried to trademark “Ate?”
Reg P. Wydeven
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