The United States Patent and Trademark Office on Wednesday denied the Vegas Golden Knights' trademark request, citing a "likelihood of confusion" with the Golden Knights of The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York.
"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 expansion NHL franchise said in a statement to Sports Illustrated.
"Office actions like this are not at all unusual, and we will proceed with the help of outside counsel in preparing a response to this one."
"We consider this a routine matter and it is not our intention to reconsider the name or logo of this franchise," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement Thursday. "We fully intend to proceed as originally planned, relying on our common law trademark rights as well as our state trademark registrations while we work through the process of addressing the question raised in the federal applications."
http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/18234450/vegas-golden-knights-trademark-request-denied-us-patent-office
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