The National Hockey League is expanding to Las Vegas beginning in the 2017-2018 season. Unfortunately, the team may be skating on to the ice as the Las Vegas Unnamed Hockey Team, as the’ve run into trademark trouble with their preferred nickname, the Golden Knights.
The team made the usual splashy announcement about the team name, logo, and all that good stuff. But for some reason, their trademark vetting process may have fallen short.
Back in August 2016, the team’s ownership group, Black Knight Sports and Entertainment LLC, applied for four different trademarks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office:
- LAS VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS for “Entertainment services, namely, professional ice hockey”
- LAS VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS for “Clothing, namely, bandanas, beach cover-ups, belts, body suits, boxer shorts, caps, cloth bibs, coats, dresses, footwear, ear muffs, gloves, hats, headbands, hosiery, housecoats, jackets, jerseys, leggings, leotards, mittens, nightshirts, pajamas, pants, rain coats, rain wear, robes, scarves, shirts, shorts, skirts, socks, suits, sun visors, suspenders, sweaters, sweatpants, sweatshirts, swimsuits, swim trunks, t-shirts, ties, toques, underwear, vests, warm-up suits and wristbands”
- VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS for “Entertainment services, namely, professional ice hockey”
- VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS for “Clothing, namely, bandanas, beach cover-ups, belts, body suits, boxer shorts, caps, cloth bibs, coats, dresses, footwear, ear muffs, gloves, hats, headbands, hosiery, housecoats, jackets, jerseys, leggings, leotards, mittens, nightshirts, pajamas, pants, rain coats, rain wear, robes, scarves, shirts, shorts, skirts, socks, suits, sun visors, suspenders, sweaters, sweatpants, sweatshirts, swimsuits, swim trunks, t-shirts, ties, toques, underwear, vests, warm-up suits and wristbands”
Yesterday, December 7, 2016, the USPTO responded by rejecting the applications on the grounds of likelihood of confusion with a prior registered trademark. That registration is for GOLDEN KNIGHTS THE COLLEGE OF SAINT ROSE – a small private college based in Albany, NY. Their mark has been registered since 2006.
From one of yesterday’s USPTO Office Actions on this matter:
The evidence suggests the services of both the applicant and registrant are similar in nature; consumers of sports entertainment services enjoy both professional and collegiate-level sports, and sometimes even prefer the latter over the former. The registrant’s services are presumed to include all sports played at the collegiate level, including hockey…Therefore, the services of the applicant and registrant are considered related for the purposes of the likelihood of confusion analysis.
It might seem like an NHL franchise is a much bigger deal than an NCAA Division II school in upstate New York. But in trademark law, size matters not. Regardless of the fact that I hadn’t previously heard of the school, they have legal priority over the mighty NHL.
Did the NHL franchise fail to do its due diligence? It’s possible that they have entered into an agreement with the Albany college and they will submit evidence to that effect. That would allow their trademark applications to go forward. If they fail to do so, I don’t see how they will be able to register their team name as a trademark.
The College of Saint Rose may also be considering legal action against the NHL team. Owing to their prior-registered trademark, they may be able to legally prevent the Vegas team from using the Golden Knights brand name for the team and for merchandise.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Vegas team’s name may also conflict with the U.S. Army’s Golden Knights parachute team.
The puck drops in less than a year, so the NHL franchise had better scramble to figure this out.
Hat tip to NHL superfans Andrew and Jordan Snodgrass for keeping me abreast of this story. Go Kings Go.
