How Utah Hockey Club Can Overcome Trademark Hurdle

The Utah Hockey Club has hit a roadblock in its path to a permanent name, but not all hope is lost.

Jon Alfano | Jan 24, 2025

Jan 18, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Hockey Club center Nick Schmaltz (8) celebrates after a goal against the St. Louis Blues during first period at the Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Creveling-Imagn Images / Christopher Creveling-Imagn Images

It's been obvious for months now that the Utah Hockey Club is leaning towards "Yeti" or "Yetis" as its permanent name starting next season, but there is now a roadblock in the way.

This week, Salt Lake City-based news station KSL reported that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refused an application for "Utah Yetis," citing "likelihood of confusion" with previous marks from YETI, the popular cooler company. So, if the team wants to use that name going forward, then they're going to need to get creative.

Luckily, not all hope is lost. KSL spoke with Jason Sanders, an attorney who specializes in intellectual property law, on the team's path forward in this situation, and revealed some enlightening details.

It's common for trademark applications to be rejected at first, which Sanders likened to the beginning of a negotiation. Utah has until early April to respond and make a case why there wouldn't be confusion with the cooler brand, and of the 13 Dupont factors the USPTO uses to determine likelihood of confusion, one of them could work in the team's favor: similar trade channels.

"This is where there's a massive difference, right?" Sanders said. "No one's going to be buying a Utah Yeti shirt mistakenly thinking they're buying a Yeti cooler T-shirt. If I was responding to this office action, that's where I would be hanging my hat the most.

"I think in this case, because the trade channels used are so massively different and the kind of consumer you go after, I would think that there's a good chance you could get it through."

However, there may be an easier way to get around the issue: an agreement between Utah and YETI allowing both marks to co-exist.

"You could just come to an agreement with Yeti," Sanders said. "There's an agreement called either consent or co-existence agreement where you just say, 'Hey, we're both going to agree that we're selling in different channels, and it's OK to move forward.'"

After their inaugural season in 2017, the Vegas Golden Knights came to a co-existence agreement with the U.S. Army, allowing the team to file for trademark rights while the Army continues to use the name for its parachute team. The Seattle Kraken likely came to a similar agreement with Kraken Rum at some point as well.

"I would counsel them to try to get a co-existence agreement with Yeti coolers, because then all the likelihood of confusion, all the prior file applications disappear," Sanders said. "You just wipe all those big issues away and you get this thing through as fast as possible."

After KSL's initial report on the trademark situation, a spokesperson from Smith Entertainment Group, the team's parent company, reached out with a statement from president of hockey operations Chris Armstrong.

“Since acquiring Utah’s NHL team, we have been carefully evaluating possibilities for the permanent identity of the team, while working within the complicated world of trademarks and intellectual property," Armstrong said. The passion of our fans has been incredible and their input invaluable. It has always been our intention to let our season one identity as Utah Hockey Club, the team’s performance, and the amazing response from our fans hold the conversation through our inaugural season.

"We will continue to involve the community in the final stages of the naming and branding process and are fully on track with our plans to announce a permanent name and identity ahead of the 2025-26 NHL season.”

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Published Jan 24, 2025

JON ALFANO

Jon is a lead writer for Baltimore Ravens On SI and contributes to other sites around the network as well. The Tampa native previously worked with sites such as ClutchPoints and GiveMeSport and earned his journalism degree at the University of Central Florida.