The word has apparently lost its appeal. Last winter, months before Jeb Bush announced he was running for president, a Miami intellectual property attorney filed a trademark request for the word “Jeb!” on behalf of a mysterious Delaware corporation called BHAG LLC. (or someone presumably acting on his behalf) wanted to trademark Jeb!, the print representation of the candidate that would take America by storm. But according to that office, on November 9 Bush’s application was officially abandoned. Perfect last-minute Christmas present for the low-energy person in your life who needs an extra exclamation point: Jeb! One of BHAG’s few activities was to trademark “Jeb!” As is par for the course, the US Patent and Trademark Office accepted the submission and requested additional information before it would grant the trademark.
– Jeb Bush has abandoned his trademark for "Jeb!," Mother Jones reports. Perhaps it was getting harder to muster the enthusiasm necessary for an exclamation point when your polling numbers suggest something closer to Jeb? or Jeb[shrugging emoticon]. According to the Washington Post, Bush is currently sitting around seventh in the Republican presidential field. Mother Jones reports Bush's BHAG LLC—it stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal—filed an application with the US Patent and Trademark Office to use Jeb! on "leather key chains, stadium cushions, stemware, stuffed toys, hair bands, and other cool stuff" last winter. But Bush failed to give written permission to the Patent and Trademark Office to use his name for the trademark, and Jeb! was considered abandoned last month, Mother Jones reports. That means anyone is free to start selling Jeb! brand merchandise, though the Post certainly wouldn't recommend it. "The trademark wasn't terribly valuable anyway because there's not really any money to be made from selling anything with Jeb! on it," the paper states. "This ain't Nike." Meanwhile, Mother Jones points out Bush's personal Blofeld, Donald Trump, not only renewed his trademark on "Trump" but took out a new trademark for the use of his name on books about how to succeed in politics.