This week it was revealed that Donald Trump has filed more than 200 trademark applications that contain his own name. The 200-plus number is held up as an example of his greed; his need to increase the value of his name (claimed to be $3 billion) by attaching it to “every kind of product imaginable, from hotels to perfume to a vanity beer label.”

A search on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website shows the good, the bad, and the ugly:

Oysters Trump

The Trump Art Collection

The Trump Follies

Trump Airlines

Trump Institute

Trump Steaks

Trump University

Trump Vodka

Trump’s American Pale Ale

Trumptini

And of course, there’s a mark for “The Donald”. (One wonders what sort of show would be associated with The Trump Follies. A musical version of his biography?)

But this story is nothing new. Trump has been filing these trademark applications since the mid-2000s, just about the time that The Apprentice, which he hosted, took off. It was the perfect opportunity to build his personal name into a brand, one that could span much more than real estate development and financial investments. Trump isn’t one to take a few cautious steps into the branding pool–if you can afford it, why not file a couple hundred trademarks for anything and everything you might want to sell or market? It’s a way of protecting yourself legally, and moving your name decisively from something that merely identifies you to an actual marketplace brand that is associated with certain qualities and values (and perhaps greed is one of those values, but I hardly think Trump would have an issue with that).

It’s no different from the several hundred trademark applications filed for the name “Ralph Lauren” by the Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation, or the 50-plus that include the word “Oprah,” for a boutique, book club, radio show, retail store, university, TV network, as well as candles, mugs, clothing, etc. Trademarks are designed to prevent confusion, that is, to identify goods and services with that mark as coming from one authorized source. This is why it’s a big deal when counterfeit goods are on the market: they have confused the consumer into thinking the purses or shoes or whatever came from the authorized source.

What’s also interesting is the number of celebrities who don’t have trademarks associated with their names. To get a TM for the name of a living and well-known person, you have to have their consent, of course, and this is why the dozens and dozens of potential marks with the name “Obama” in them have been quickly rejected by the USPTO. These include obvious wordplay like “Nobama” (for bumper stickers), “Obamanation” (for T-shirts), and “Obamanopoly” (for a board game–infringing on another trademark! Well done!), as well as an application for a political action committee to be called “Obama Bin Biden,” filed by the charmingly named Jeffrey Crank.