Utah Mammoth in Legal Dispute Over Trademark
Salt Lake City – The owners of the NHL team, Utah Mammoth, have initiated a legal claim against a hockey equipment bag manufacturer. The conflict centers on a trademark dispute. The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court in Utah, points to an impasse in trademark negotiations between Utah Mammoth and Mammoth Hockey LLC.The team announced its new name and logo in May, after its first season in Utah. Previously, during its first season after the move from Arizona to Salt Lake City, the team used the name Utah Hockey Club. After the announcement of the new franchise name, the Oregon-based company Mammoth Hockey issued a cease and desist letter. In this letter, they argued that customers could confuse both brands and that fans of rival teams might refrain from buying their products. Both the team and the company use logos in the shape of a mammoth and are related to the terms “Mammoth” and “hockey”, according to the letter. Mammoth Hockey was founded in 2014 and is dedicated to manufacturing large-sized equipment bags, aimed at hockey players. “Mammoth Hockey 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 hockey products it has manufactured and sold for the past 10 years,” said Erik Olson, co-founder of Mammoth Hockey.“Utah Mammoth and the NHL firmly believe that we have the right to use the name Utah Mammoth under federal and state law, and that our use will not harm the defendant or its business in any way,” stated Smith Entertainment Group officials. “We have taken this step only after careful consideration based on the defendant’s position.”
Smith Entertainment Group
