Utah Mammoth in Legal Dispute Over Trademark
SALT LAKE CITY – The owners of the NHL team, Utah Mammoth, are embroiled in a legal dispute related to their trademark. The lawsuit, filed against a manufacturer of hockey equipment bags, seeks to resolve an intellectual property conflict. The legal action, filed in the United States District Court in Utah, indicates a standstill in negotiations over the use of the name “Mammoth”.The team announced its new name and logo in May, following its first season in Utah. Previously, the team competed under the name Utah Hockey Club during its inaugural season after relocating from Arizona to Salt Lake City. Mammoth Hockey, based in Oregon, issued a cease and desist letter shortly after the presentation of the new franchise name, arguing the potential confusion between the two brands and the impact on the sale of their products by fans of rival teams. Both the team and the company use mammoth-shaped logos and are associated with the terms “Mammoth” and “hockey”, according to the letter. Mammoth Hockey was founded in 2014 and is dedicated to manufacturing large equipment bags, aimed at hockey players. Mammoth Hockey co-founder Erik Olson stated in a statement that his company “intends to vigorously defend the recently initiated litigation against it by the Utah Mammoth of the National Hockey League and protect its long-standing trademark used in connection with the hockey products it has manufactured and sold for the past 10 years.”“Utah Mammoth and the NHL firmly maintain that they have the right to use the name Utah Mammoth under federal and state law, and that its use will not harm the defendant or its business in any way,” Smith Entertainment Group officials said in a statement. “We have taken this step only after careful consideration based on the defendant’s position.”
