Back off my name, Sarah Palin says

Sarah and Bristol Palin have a phrase for all would-be imitators: Trademarked.

A lawyer for the dynamic reality-star duo from Alaska applied for a trademark of their names late last year, according to recent reports.

The application was submitted for Sarah Palin on Nov. 5 and for Bristol on Sept. 15, shortly before her "Dancing With the Stars" debut, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website.

The former governor's name is registered under goods and services, a category that includes information about political elections, educational and entertainment services. Her daughter's trademark is under educational and entertainment services, namely providing motivational-speaking services in the field of life choices, the website said.

Other Palin trademark applications on record include "Democrats for Palin/Bachmann in 2012," "Sarah Palin's going rogue rogue," "Puck you Palin," "Palin not Stalin" and "Beware of Palin."

According to AOL's Politics Daily, which first reported the story, the Palins have faced some problems with their pending patents. The current status on Sarah Palin's application shows that the patent agency has requested more information, specifically her written consent to have her name trademarked and proof that her name is being used for commercial purposes.

Bristol Palin's application also had similar problems, according to the report.

Jaia Thomas, an intellectual property lawyer in Washington, D.C., said the process wasn't that hard.

"The real difficulty is whether the trademark office will accept it or not," she said. "There could be already another Palin not related to them with their name trademarked."

Other people could have also beaten the Palins to the punch in applying for the name earlier, Thomas said.

While the request to trademark their names may seem ridiculous, it's not exactly unprecedented. Many celebrities, including the Kardashians and Chad Ochocinco, have applied to trademark their names. Businesses also register the names of their stars. Nike, for example, owns the rights to the name "LeBron."

Few politicians, including Barack Obama, John McCain or Nancy Pelosi have their names registered with the tradermark office, according to the website. Thomas said that it would be harder for politicians to regulate all of the activity surrounding their names.

The Palins may have many reasons for wanting to trademark their names, but in the case of most celebrities, its a dollar bill thing, Thomas said.

"The main reason a lot of celebrities want to trademark their name is economic gain," she said. "If they own a trademark to their name, no one else can make a profit off of it."

The lawyer who applied for the patent for the Palins, Thomas Van Flein, is now on staff at Republican Rep. Paul Gosar.

nmandell@nydailynews.com