Champion Eagles want to trademark "Philly Special"

— -- The Philadelphia Eagles want the right to exclusively own the "Philly Special."

The team filed to trademark the phrase on Feb 15, mostly for use on apparel. The filing recently showed up on the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office website.

The Eagles aren't the first in line for the phrase. They're actually the eighth group to file for it. People in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida, as well as Pennsylvania-based beer brand Yuengling, filed for rights to own the phrase referring to the now famous Super Bowl LII trick play.

Trademark lawyer Josh Gerben of Gerben Law in Washington D.C. says the Eagles will have to wait about four months for the government entity to sort out the filings and then roughly another eight months to see if the trademark will be awarded to the team. While the other trademark filings are for intent to use "Philly Special," the Eagles say they've already used it, referring to a shirt with their logo that was sold by Fanatics in the days after the Super Bowl win.

Gerben says one question the trademark office will have is "whether the play's name belongs to the Eagles or deserves to be in the public domain."

A request for comment from the Eagles was not immediately returned.

The name of plays have rarely been trademarked, though Pittsburgh Steelers Hall cf Famer Franco Harris owns the phrase "Franco's Immaculate Reception."

The Eagles scored a touchdown on the fourth and goal play late in the second quarter. In it, the ball was direct snapped to running back Corey Clement, who pitched the ball to tight end Trey Burton, who threw the ball to quarterback Nick Foles in the end zone. The Eagles went on to win the game 41-33.

NFL teams have been active in trademark filings this past playoff season. The Eagles filed to trademark "Fly Eagles Fly," while the Minnesota Vikings filed to trademark "Minnesota Miracle," the pass from quarterback Case Keenum to wide receiver Stefon Diggs that got them into the NFC title game.

Interestingly, Keenum himself has also filed to trademark the phrase. A source close to Keenum told ESPN he'll likely only pursue the phrase for himself if he remains with the team.