Masters Green Jacket
Trademark: Masters Green Jacket
First Used: 1949
First Registered: 2020
Current Owner: AUGUSTA NATIONAL, INC. [1]
Trademark Type: non-traditional trademark; trade dress; configuration mark
Primarily Associated With: promotion of goods and services through sponsorship of sports events; and organizing and conducting golf tournaments [2]
Brief (and likely incomplete) History [3]:
The MASTERS® golf tournament has many famous features and traditions, including the Masters 12th Hole, one of the most infamous holes in golf. Each year, the victor is also awarded the iconic GREEN JACKET® [4].
In 1930, future Augusta National co-founder Bobby Jones was attending The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool when he noticed that the club’s captains wore matching red jackets, making them easy to identify on the grounds. Jones went on to win that championship and was awarded a red jacket of his own. When Augusta National opened in 1933, several jacket colors were reportedly considered, including red, yellow, and “Georgia peach,” before the club settled on green.
By 1937, Augusta members wore green jackets during the Masters tournament so patrons could easily spot them and ask for directions. That tradition eventually extended to the Masters winner in 1949, when Sam Snead became the first champion to receive a Green Jacket. Augusta then retroactively gave the Green Jacket to each previous tournament winner.
Part of the Green Jacket’s mystique comes from how tightly Augusta controls it. The Masters champion may wear the jacket off club grounds for only one year, after which it returns to Augusta National, and the jacket cannot be sold or given to third parties under any circumstances. To protect authenticity, each jacket is also marked for identification, which makes the Green Jacket feel less like an ordinary trophy and more like a carefully guarded emblem of Masters history. That mix of prestige, exclusivity, and tradition is a big part of why few prizes in sports are as instantly recognizable. And why the Green Jacket is a registered trademark today!
Interested in learning more about other 2026 sporting events? Check out our 2026 posts on the College Football National Championship, Team USA in the Winter Olympics, Super Bowl, and Final Four.
Copyright © 2026 by Illustrated IP, LLC. All rights reserved.
[1] Masters, AUGUSTA NATIONAL, https://www.masters.com/index.html.
[2] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 6,000,045, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=88310303&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.
[3] The Masters - History of the Legendary Green Jacket, MAJOR SPORTS AUGUSTA, available at https://www.majorsportsaugusta.com/blog/the-masters-history-of-the-legendary-green-jacket; The history (and strict rules) of the Masters green jacket, GOLF.com, posted April 11, 2026, and available at https://golf.com/news/history-strict-rules-masters-green-jacket/; What is the history of the green jacket?, PGA, posted April 8, 2024, and available at https://www.pgatour.com/article/news/style-insider/2024/04/08/green-jacket-75-year-anniversary-origins-history-tradition-jack-nicklaus-tiger-woods-scottie-scheffler; Masters Green Jacket: History and Facts, PGA, published April 11, 2021, and available at https://www.pga.com/story/masters-green-jacket-history-and-facts.
[4] USPTO, (Supplemental Register) U.S. Trademark Registration No. 4,243,879, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=85977354&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch; USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 4,633,444, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=85982769&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.