Name, image and likeness (NIL) has become a household turn of phrase when it comes to athletes safeguarding their brand with their goals of building financial security.
The U.S. Government’s Patent and Trademark Office is in Pittsburgh for the NFL Draft through Saturday, and America’s Branding Agency hopes to provide an on-site NIL and trademark educational presence for athletes, families, creators and anyone building their personal brand.
“Young athletes know the work it takes to perfect control over mind, body and spirit for peak performance,” said John A. Squires, Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the USPTO.
“As coach Nick Saban has famously said, ‘You don’t practice until you get it right, you practice until you can’t get it wrong.’ Personal brand protection starts as early as your training day, and in the era of NIL and artificial intelligence deepfakes, it needs to be part of your equipment. We can help.”
It is the first time the USPTO has established something like this as a major professional sports event.
Fans can visit the USPTO’s education booth inside the NFL Draft Experience at the SportsWorks building alongside the Pro Football Hall of Fame exhibit across from Acrisure Stadium. There will be resources available on how trademarks work, common pitfalls to avoid and how to reduce impersonation risk.
Squires said the initiative is designed to reach not only athletes and their families, but also fans, influencers and anyone building a personal brand.
“Draft week is a key moment when identity becomes a business asset for hundreds of athletes and their families,” Squires said.
“We want to make sure people understand the basics of brand protection before they need them, not after something goes wrong.”
Continuing the educational initiative at the NFL Draft, Squires will lead a one-hour World IP Day panel conversation, “Authenticity — the Name of the Game,” at 10 a.m. Friday.
The panel will include three-time U.S. Paralympian gold medalist Jack Wallace; Reggie Calhoun Jr., director of NIL and revenue sharing for Colorado football and the founder and managing director of ProStrat Innovations; and Chelsea Mikolajcik, a strategy and compensation consultant, NIL advisor and founder of MIKO services.
“We are grateful to the (NFL) and the City of Pittsburgh for hosting America’s Branding Agency’s special education broadcast, with an all-star panel live from the 2026 NFL Draft,” said Squires, himself a former Division I football player and a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
The discussion, Squires said, will focus on the fundamentals of federally registered trademark protection in an era where NIL is increasingly valuable and also vulnerable.
The USPTO’s initiative is designed to inform with practical guidance and official resources that will help those entering or already in the world of NIL protect themselves from the dangers of AI advances which hope to harm reputations while they are building brands, signing endorsement deals and monetizing their identities.
“When your profile rises, the risk of misuse rises with it,” Squires said. “We are not here to give legal advice. We are here to give people the basics so they can make informed decisions and know where to go for help.”
The USPTO encourages anyone interested in learning more about trademarks and brand protection to visit uspto.gov/TrademarkBasics, uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/why-hire-private-trademark-attorney and uspto.gov/NIL.