'Hawk Tuah' Girl Hailey Welch Eyeing Comedy Career, Files Trademarks

Hailey Welch -- the viral "Hawk Tuah" Girl -- is apparently trying to go from "spittin' on that thang" to making audiences spit take ... 'cause she's now trying to lock up the rights to her famous phrase... and, it looks like she's got a comedy career in mind.

TMZ's obtained her trademark filing for "Hawk Tuah" in which Welch is asking for trademarks in two fields -- one for apparel like hats and shirts and another for entertainment services ... namely, comedy podcasts and live comedy shows.

Welch filed for the trademark under her new company, 16 Minutes, LLC -- a clever play on Hailey looking to extend her 15 minutes into lasting fame ... not the first sign she's trying to do so, as you know.

Like we told you ... Hailey's management team, Penthouse, stepped forward yesterday, revealing their repping the viral internet sensation -- this after false reports claimed UTA was going to represent her.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us Hailey's newly acquired team is immediately getting to work on shutting down merchants attempting to profit from Hailey's spit-soaked words ... sending many of them cease and desist letters.

We're told those close to Hailey think many businesses are profiting off of her genius -- pretty fair given the number of trademarks filed by various companies after the viral blow-up.

Our sources say Hailey's got plans to drop her own line of merch in the future FWIW ... so expect some "Hawk Tuah" merch from the queen herself soon.