Ric Flairs Transfers 'The Man' Trademarks Over To WWE
To be 'The Man', you have to ask 'The Man'...
Ric Flair has officially transferred trademarks for 'The Man' over to WWE.
The USPTO (United States Patent & Trademark Office) shows that the legend has finally signed over the rights to the nickname for copyright usage to the company. He'd previously withheld those trademarks from the promotion, and stated that he thought they should've asked him before pinning 'The Man' to Becky Lynch in 2018.
Flair filed for ownership of 'The Man' on 22 August 2019, and again four days later on 26 August. He maintained that those intellectual properties belonged to him because he had used 'The Man' as a TV character for so many years, and first used the remark during an interview way back in 1976.
It's taken a while, but Ric is now willing to let WWE have it.
The cruel twist here is that Lynch doesn't need the nickname right now. She's off on maternity leave and planning a family with Seth Rollins, so 'The Man' copyright is pretty much useless at the moment. That doesn't mean she won't want it when she returns.
It's also worth noting that Ric recently penned a new contract with WWE. It's possible his decision to cede the trademarks played a part in that deal.