His fame also has its downsides: darts superstar Luke Littler appears to be taking a drastic yet curious step.According to the British newspaper The Guardian, the two-time world champion has filed an application with the Intellectual Property Office to register his likeness as a trademark and thus protect it.The reason: this would enable Littler to prevent his face from being misused in advertisements via artificial intelligence or image editing without his consent. Furthermore, the aim is to prevent the sale of counterfeit products, the masterminds behind which misappropriate Littler’s likeness and thereby infringe copyright.No other darts player is currently more marketable than Littler, which is why the world number one has already registered his nickname “The Nuke” as a trademark in the US. Just at the start of the year, shortly after winning his second World Championship title, the now 19-year-old signed the biggest deal in the history of the sport with equipment supplier “Target Darts”.According to information from the British news agency PA, the Briton is set to receive a total of around £20 million (approximately €23 million). The agreement is reportedly for ten years and includes, in addition to fixed payments, performance-related bonuses as well as revenue shares from products marketed by Littler.Littler also endorses video games, fast-food chains and even bagged nut snacks. He is managed by one of the most successful figures in the darts business himself: Gary Plummer.On top of that, there’s a huge amount of prize money that Littler rakes in. Over the past two years, he has already broken the three-million-euro barrier in the Order of Merit. There’s no end in sight to his success story. Just last Thursday, he secured his second win of the season in the Premier League after a spectacular comeback. Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting