Vegas Golden Knights trademark request denied
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied the trademark request of the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights' citing a "likelihood of confusion" with the Golden Knights of The College of Saint Rose located in Albany, New York.
The owners of the franchise revealed the team's nickname and logo during a ceremony on Nov. 22. The Golden Knights are the league's 31st franchise and will begin playing in the 2017–18 season.
"There are countless examples of college sports teams and professional sports teams with coexisting names, including Vegas Golden Knights and Clarkson Golden Knights, UCLA Bruins and Boston Bruins, U of Miami Hurricanes and Carolina Hurricanes, etc. We will plan on making these arguments and others in our detailed written response," the team said in a statement to SI.com.
"Office actions like these are not at all unusual, and we will proceed with the help of outside counsel in preparing a response to this one,” the team said.
The team will continue to sell merchandise with the "Golden Knights" nickname and has until June 7 to file a response to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office concerning the trademark denial.
“We believe, at the end of the day, all parties will embrace the fact that we are the Vegas Golden Knights and this absolutely will work out,” Murray Craven, the team’s senior vice president, toldThe Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I hope people don’t overreact to this at all. We believe everyone will be satisfied. We are only going to enhance the name Golden Knights for everyone. That’s our goal. I won’t put words in Bill Foley’s mouth, but we all believe this will be fine.”
– Scooby Axson