Linsanity trademark belongs to Jeremy Lin

The catch phrase "Linsanity"— a word which captured the meteoric rise and city-wide euphoria of New York Knicks' sensation Jeremy Lin— has been awarded to the point guard by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

J-Lin captured New York's heart and playoff hopes with his Lin-credible rise from undrafted player to the face of a team and the NBA.

"It's not only Linsanity, but all Lin-related trademarks," said Pamela M. Deese, a partner in the law firm Arent LLP, who is working on the player's behalf.  "Having a clean plate with rights in place makes it a lot easier to negotiate licenses and endorsement deals."

The player's filing (fi-Lin-g) on Feb. 13 came six days after a California man with no ties to the 23-year old Harvard grad became the first to apply for the Linsanity trademark.  A second filing filing was made on Feb. 9 and on Feb. 14.  Somebody better have an exp-Lin-ation how the NBA player got the trademark before anyone else.

Lin, the first Chinese or Taiwanese-American to play in the NBA, drew widespread attention after coming off the bench on Feb. 4 to score 25 points in a win against the New Jersey Nets.  His Lin-fectious play sparked the Knicks to six consecutive wins— boosting TV ratings and ticket prices in his wake.

The wildly-popular player's Lin-credible run came to an end after Lin had surgery last month to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee.  He missed the Knicks' opening-round playoff series with the Miami Heat, which New York lost 4-1.

Since he was Lin-capacitated, covered in Lin-iment and Lin-gering on a contract, is there still any Lin-terest in the Lin-corrigible player with the g-Lin-t in his eye?

Call your trademark lawyer to find out.