Turkey’s Olympic pistol sharpshooter Yusuf Dikec has filed to trademark his nonchalant stance at the Paris Games that went viral around the world, his coach told.
His coach Erdinc Bilgili said that the move to protect the commercial use of his pose with the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office came in response to others trying to trademark it without Dikec’s say-so.
After being informed of numerous trademark registration initiatives carried out without Yusuf Dikec’s knowledge, we applied about a week ago,” Bilgili said, adding that the “other applications have been rejected”.
Dikec’s apparent sangfroid inspired a flood of memes online, some comparing him to fictional spy James Bond, while billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk shared a video of himself striking the stance.
His pose also became widely imitated among his fellow athletes since he won silver, Turkey’s first medal in the mixed-team 10m air pistol, with teammate Sevval Ilayda Tarhan.
Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson also copied it on Sunday as he celebrated scoring against Crystal Palace in the English Premier League.
Various bits of memorabilia bearing his likeness have gone on sale, T-shirts, mugs, and mobile phone covers among them, Turkish news channel TRT Haber reported.
