Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers and the face of Nike's current advertising campaign, applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last week seeking trademark rights to a black-and-white image of his face and hair.

The application, which was first reported by ESPN, includes 17 classes of products and services that range from lotion and jewelry to self-empowerment classes.

Kaepernick is represented by Bruce H. Bernstein, a co-managing partner at Greenblum & Bernstein in Reston, Virginia. Bernstein declined to comment Friday. Kaepernick's business manager's assistant also declined to comment.

“It's a pretty ambitious application,” said Michael P. Cohen, the founder and principal of Cohen IP Law Group. “You typically don't see 17 classes.”

Cohen explained that once Kaepernick is granted preliminary approval, he will have to go back to the USPTO showing that he is using each of the products in commerce before the trademark is granted final approval.

Eric Perrott, a trademark and copyright attorney at Gerben Law Firm in Washington, D.C., said the trademark filing shows that Kaepernick is taking action on his movement. Part of the application indicates that he intends to use the image to promote a variety of classes, including one that teaches people how to interact with law enforcement.

While other athletes have certainly trademarked their images before, none, as far as Cohen could find, has applied to have a trademark of their image linked to their political beliefs.

Aside from its civic motives, the trademark would allow Kaepernick to license his image.

“He might not produce a brand of lotions, but he might have a partnership where he licenses the image to him,” Perrott explained. “He would still maintain protection over it.”

The image of Colin Kaepernick that he and his company, Inked Flash, have filed for trademark protection/Credit: USPTO

That protection goes a long way. Tennis player Roger Federer ended up losing the “RF” logo with which he was associated when he left Nike to join the Japanese brand Uniqlo, because Nike owned the RF logo.

If the application is approved and Kaepernick licenses the image to Nike, he would retain the image if he chose to go to a different company.

“If they [athletes] can own all of those things, it is a huge win because they can use it in the future,” Perrott said.

Perrott also said the trademark would provide protection for Kaepernick's black-and-white image if someone wants to use it to put on a shirt mocking him and his political beliefs.

“If an opponent to his movement wanted to use the image of his face on a consumer product as a joke, he would be in a position to get them to stop,” Perrott explained.

Cohen said that in another scenario, where someone uses only part of the image on a product, Kaepernick would have legal recourse depending on the facts of the case because of the trademark.

This all is if the trademark gets approved. The application was filed on Oct. 5 and Cohen said that it can take the USPTO four to six months before a preliminary approval is granted.