Utah Hockey Club: What’s in a Name?
At Sand, Sebolt and Wernow, we’re always following the latest news regarding intellectual property. Today we bring you a current trademark application in the news.
The Utah Hockey Club joined the NHL as an expansion team at the beginning of the 2024-2025 season, simply using the name “Hockey Club.” They announced they would select a permanent name from a list of possibilities.
On the list of possible team names, the “Utah Yetis” was a front-runner and fan favorite. With a popular name in the works, the team submitted its Intent-To-Use trademark application for the name to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in April 2024. At the beginning of January 2025, however, the USPTO came back with its verdict on that application.
“Utah Yetis” Trademark Application: The Details
In its April 2024 application, the Utah Hockey Club submitted its application to the USPTO for the mark of “Utah Yetis” in two Trademark International Classes: Class 025 for clothing of the brand name and Class 041 for “entertainment services, namely, ice hockey exhibitions.” This April 2024 application by the team was filed as a 1B or “Intent-To-Use” trademark application with the USPTO.
As we have discussed in previous blog posts on the topic of trademark applications generally, this 1B or Intent-To-Use status means that the club is basically saying “we’re not using it yet, but we would like the chance to own this mark and develop this as a potential brand name.”
Time Out: Office Action Issued
On January 9, 2025, the USPTO issued a Non-Final Office Action regarding the Hockey Club’s desired name of “Utah Yetis.” That Office Action cites a number of registered marks and pending mark applications for the mark of “YETI,” all owned by Yeti Coolers, LLC. These marks all claim various Goods and Services that overlap with the “Utah Yetis” application.
The Class 025 marks are for clothing under the popular “YETI” brand of coolers and products, while many of the pending application are Intent-To-Use applications that indicate that the Yeti Coolers brand is looking to expand and specialize in its own brand of providing suites and food and beverages in those suites at sporting events. All of these Goods and Services were deemed by the USPTO’s Trademark Examining Attorney to be “easily confused” with the Hockey Club’s applied-for mark of “Utah Yetis.”
What’s Next for the Utah Hockey Club?
According to ESPN.com, the Utah Hockey Club still has four additional candidate names it may still choose: Utah Blizzard, Utah Mammoth, Utah Outlaws and Utah Venom, or it may stay with its current moniker of Utah Hockey Club (abbreviated as “Utah HC,” to conform with more international hockey league norms for such abbreviations).
Each of these candidate names still also have trademark applications pending before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. However, some of these potential names (specifically, Blizzard and Venom) have also run into similar rejections, and thus, these also have pending Office Actions in their applications that resemble the one in the Utah Yetis application.
The smart money would bet on the next iteration of Utah’s new NHL team adopting the mascot of Mammoths or Outlaws – or staying with its current name of Utah Hockey Club. Stay tuned…
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