Tebow Trademarks Tebowing

By Doug Most, Globe Staff

Tim Tebow now officially owns “Tebowing.” Don’t worry, anyone can still tweet it, say it, even get down on to one knee and do it, if you want, but the only guy who can actually profit from the word “Tebowing” is the Jets backup quarterback, who happens to be coming to town Sunday to play the Patriots. The strange thing is that somebody else actually wants to own this phrase. That person was Jared Kleinstein, who controlled the website www.tebowing.com. He had filed paperwork with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the rights to Tebowing and even claims some credit for helping to make it so popular. Tebow’s lawyer, however, argued that if anyone gets the right to trademark Tebowing, it’s, well, Tebow. And now he owns it. In an interview earlier this year, Tebow acknowledged the craze was crazy. “I’m pretty sure I’m not the first athlete that’s gotten on a knee and prayed,” Tebow said. “But somehow it’s known as Tebowing and I’m not sure why. . . . It’s not all a bad thing. If somehow people are talking about prayer, or talking about my faith, I think that’s pretty cool.”