The inaugural season of the Utah Hockey Club is going pretty well on the ice.
The new club, built from the bones of the now-shuttered Arizona Coyotes, sports a record of 21-19-7—not near the top of the hockey world by any means, but pretty far above the doldrums as well.
But off the ice, the club has hit a potential snag that could bring them back to the drawing board. As reported by local NBC affiliate KSL, the United States Patent and Trademark Office refused the club’s attempt to trademark “Utah Yetis” earlier this month due to the prominence of another Yeti brand—YETI coolers.
While Utah Hockey Club has played under its direct moniker to start its run as a franchise, it was common knowledge that the Utah Yeti or Yetis was the name the club was ultimately working towards.
According to the USPTO, adding “Utah” to the trademark was not enough of a differentiator to set the franchise apart.
"In the present case, the wording 'Utah' in the applied-for mark is merely descriptive of or generic for applicant's goods,” the USPTO wrote in a non-final action, per KSL. “Thus, this wording is less significant in terms of affecting the mark's commercial impression, and renders the wording 'YETIS' the more dominant element of the mark.”
Taking “Yeti” to a plural “Yetis” also did not cut it.
Where does this all leave the Utah Hockey Club? Likely, looking for another name.
A fan vote last year identified six contenders for the franchise’s future name: Utah Blizzard, Utah Hockey Club (Utah HC), Utah Mammoth, Utah Outlaws, Utah Venom and Utah Yeti.
If anyone had plans of building a company that sells top of line portable refrigeration equipment known as Mammoth Coolers, you might want to act fast.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Utah Hockey Club Has 'Yetis' Nickname Rejected by U.S. Patent Office.
