The hockey equipment company being sued by the Utah Mammoth says it will “vigorously defend” itself in a trademark dispute with the NHL team.
Utah Mammoth’s owners, the Smith Entertainment Group, filed the lawsuit this month against Mammoth Hockey, which sells hockey bags. The suit asks the court to declare the NHL team’s name and logo do not violate Mammoth Hockey’s trademark rights.
(Mammoth Hockey) The equipment bag, with Mammoth logo, that the company makes.
“I can tell you that Mammoth Hockey intends to vigorously defend the litigation recently commenced against it by Utah Mammoth of the National Hockey League and protect its longstanding trademark used in connection with the hockey goods it has manufactured and sold for the past ten years,” Erik Olson, who is the co-founder of Mammoth Hockey, wrote in a comment to The Salt Lake Tribune.
According to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, the hockey bag company supported the NHL team adopting the Mammoth name — which it did after gathering public input throughout last season — “and even approached [the team] about a possible collaboration.” But in June, the bag company “reversed course,” the lawsuit alleges, and claimed the NHL team’s name violated trademark rights.
(SEG) All of the Utah Mammoth marks that were created for the permanent branding of the team.
In a June letter, the Utah Mammoth alleges that Mammoth Hockey “does not maintain and has never filed” any trademark application for the “Mammoth” designation in the United States. It also pointed out the differences in design between the two logos, namely, color and shape.
The bag company, which says it has operated since 2014, argued it has common law trademark rights from its use in commerce. Common law trademark rights are established through the use of the logo in the market rather than formal registration with a government agency. Mammoth Hockey also maintains that it is “highly likely that consumers will confuse the two marks, risking our client’s business and operations.”
(Mammoth Hockey) The logo for Mammoth Hockey, the company for hockey-equipment bags.
“Our client has established a national presence with products being shipped to forty-seven states, including Utah,” lawyers for Mammoth Hockey wrote in a letter to SEG at the end of July. “This widespread distribution network, built over a decade of operations, establishes that the MAMMOTH HOCKEY brand has achieved nationwide recognition in the hockey equipment market. … Our client’s use of their mark in commerce is extensive.”
SEG has yet to get approval from the United States Patent and Trademark Office on both the Utah Mammoth name and logo.