“I Want to Thank Myself”

By Chezanne Haigh | Consultant 

When is a phrase worth protecting?

When Mirra Andreeva lifted the French Open trophy, her tennis did most of the talking. Her jacket, however, made sure there was a little extra conversation.

Across the back was a line that felt made for the moment: “I want to thank myself.” Confident, funny and just self-aware enough, it travelled quickly across social media. It also raised a familiar question for trade mark lawyers – when does a phrase stop being a quote and start becoming a brand?

Of course, the sentiment did not begin on a tennis court. Snoop Dogg helped turn the idea into a pop culture moment when he thanked himself during his Hollywood Walk of Fame speech in 2018. What sounded like a punchline also carried a more serious message about effort, resilience and self-belief. Years later, Andreeva gave it a new life in a very different setting – not on a stage in Hollywood, but on a tennis court.

That is where things become interesting from an intellectual property perspective. The law does not generally allow someone to own ordinary language simply because they said it first, said it loudly or said it in a memorable way. People are allowed to quote, joke, celebrate and express themselves. A phrase only starts to become a trade mark when it performs a specific role: it must act as a badge of origin, indicating the source of goods or services.

This is why context matters. A line on the back of a celebratory jacket is one thing. Consistent use of that same phrase as the name of a podcast, a content platform, a coaching platform or product range is quite another. At that point, trade mark protection becomes worth considering.

The first question is not whether the phrase is clever. Many are. The better question is whether the phrase is doing commercial work. Is it being used consistently? Does it helping consumers recognise a particular source of the good or service? Is it distinctive enough to separate one brand from another? Is the business likely to invest in it over time? If the answer is yes, early clearance and protection can be useful.

Nike would have a slightly different calculation. A custom jacket for a champion athlete can be a powerful marketing moment without becoming a full retail product. A custom, one-off item for a champion athlete can be a powerful marketing moment precisely because it feels personal and tied to a specific achievement. If Nike wanted to release the phrase on a wider range of clothing, the analysis would change. It would need to consider earlier users, existing registrations, the Snoop Dogg association, Cynthia Garcia’s use, the risk of consumer confusion and whether buyers would see the words as a brand or simply as decoration.

Words printed across a jacket or T-shirt are often perceived as ornamental – a slogan, a joke, a fan reference or a design feature – rather than as a trade mark. It is not automatically a trade mark. For a phrase on clothing to function as a trade mark, consumers must see it as identifying the source of the goods, not merely as something written on the front or back.

Then come the bootleggers. They are rarely interested in careful clearance. They see the trophy photo, move quickly, print the phrase and try to sell while the moment is still warm. This is where the commercial risk becomes practical rather than theoretical. Even if no single person owns the words in every context, bootleg products may still create problems if they suggest an official connection with the athlete, the sponsor, the tournament or another brand.

Here, the issue is often not just the phrase itself but the overall presentation, whether it falsely suggests an official connection with the athlete, sponsor or event.

For businesses, creators and athletes, the lesson is to not rush to trade mark every sharp line. Some phrases are best left as campaign copy, social media captions or once-off moments. But when a phrase becomes repeatable, recognisable and commercially useful, it deserves a closer look.

A good phrase can capture attention. A protected phrase can help build a brand.

The challenge is knowing when it has crossed that line and, as one famous slogan might put it, “just do it!” 😉