Jake Retzlaff, the first Jewish QB in BYU history, made headlines last week when he signed a name, image and likeness deal with the Jewish food and wine brand Manischewitz, the first NIL deal given out by the kosher company.
Retzlaff, who led the Cougars (10-2) to an appearance against Colorado in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 28, goes by the nickname “BYJew," a moniker coined by his brother Reggie, that has taken the Mormon university by storm.
And it appears the storm is only just beginning.
On Oct. 27, Retzlaff officially filed a trademark for “BYJEW," which is to be used for clothing and marketing services.
According to public documents on the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the first use of BYJEW in commercial and marketing services, came more than a year ago, on Dec. 4, 2023 — exactly one year and a day before announcing his NIL deal with Manischewitz — and the first use in clothing came earlier this fall, on Oct. 1.
Earlier this fall, Chaim Zippel, the co-director and rabbi of Chabad of Utah County, announced the sale of BYJew shirts available on Jewish Utah County website, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to work in the community.
Retzlaff has a link to these shirts in his Instagram bio.
These same shirts are also now available with major retail distributors, such as Wal-Mart.
But many other designs exist from other distributors. Even media networks, such as Barstool and Meadowlark, have sold BYJEW merchandise, though, according to BYU Barstool, all proceeds will go to Retzlaff. That is not explicitly stated for other distributors, such as Etsy and Amazon.
“The trademark filing is, no doubt, an attempt to say, ‘Hey, wait a second. This is getting out of control,’” trademark attorney Josh Gerben said. “‘We need to make sure we're the owners of the mark, and we can police the marketplace going forward.’”
A complication though in trademarking the term, Gerben noted, is the rhyming of “BYJEW” with BYU.
“There could be an issue where they view the registration as marked to dilute the power of their BYU mark,” Gerben said. “Universities are very big trademark policers. They have a lot of rights, a lot of licensing rights, tied into their names, and they need to protect these trademarks. They typically do go after people that file trademarks that are a play on their name, or a play on something associated with the university.”
Gerben presumes BYU would have done its due diligence on its star QB, as it did on Retzlaff’s NIL deal with Manischewitz. But, it is entirely possible though, per Gerben, the BYU legal department hasn’t reviewed this trademark application yet. Trademarks, he noted, take several months to process.
If the trademark is approved by the government, there is then a 30-day window where anyone can challenge the trademark.
“Presuming this gets the government stamp of approval,” Gerben said, “BYU, would theoretically have an opportunity to file a challenge to the application if they felt it could affect their rights."
BYU did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The law office on record for the application, Plummer Law Group, who represents Retzlaff, also did not respond to a request for comment.
Matt Liberman is a reporter and video producer for cllct.