Florida Man vs. Florida Man: He wants to trademark ‘Florida Man’ before someone else does.https://www.tampabay.com/environment/florida-man-vs-florida-man-he-wants-to-trademark-florida-man-before-someone-else-does-20190514/ST. PETERSBURG — For three years, a Florida man named Ryan Davis has run a Florida website called “floridaman.com†that features stories he's aggregated from various publications about the bumbling antics of the Sunshine State's ubiquitous superhero, Florida Man. You know the ones: “Florida Man drives Cadillac from sunroof down highway, says he'd rather go to jail than back to his wife,†and “Florida Man gets beat up by the Easter Bunny," and "Florida Man resists arrest by singing karaoke.â€
Lately he's even started making money at it, selling T-shirts and other merchandise bearing slogans such as “Beware of Florida Man.â€
Now the St. Petersburg resident has taken the next logical step. He recently applied for a trademark for the term “Florida Man.â€
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According to Largo trademark attorney Bill Larson, Davis can indeed trademark the term "Florida Man" — but only insofar as it's part of a product or service.
"You can only get a trademark registered for a product or service that you sell," he said, pointing out Davis' T-shirts as an example. "If it's a generic term that everyone uses — like escalator or elevator — those would not be able to be registered."
Davis has only just put in his application, so he's still got some time to go before he finds out if his trademark application has been accepted. He said he knows of one other person who has put in an application for the same trademark, so there could be a three-way custody battle over “Florida Man.â€
Although Davis' website features a lot of mugshots, he was reluctant to share his own photo with the Times. Incidentally, Davis shares a trait with about two-thirds of Florida's 21 million residents: He's not from Florida. He’s originally from California, which in pre-Internet days used to be considered the weirdest state in the union.
