Question of the Day - 18 April 2018

The owner of the Vegas Golden Knights, Bill Foley, is a 1967 graduate of West Point, whose athletic teams have been known as the Army Black Knights for a long time. Foley wanted to name his new hockey team the Black Knights in honor of the Academy. But he was warned against doing so.

Instead, he named the team the Golden Knights. Problem is, the Army’s parachute team has been called the Golden Knights for 55 years and they’ve performed in more than 16,000 shows.

As soon as Foley unveiled the name the Golden Knights in November 2016, West Point officials began “reviewing the situation.” In mid-January 2018, the Army requested that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office deny the hockey team’s trademark application for “Vegas Golden Knights.”

An article in The New York Times quoted the request: “The hockey team’s name and mark are confusingly similar in sound, meaning, and appearance to its own, the team’s similar color scheme adds to the likelihood of confusion, and the Army would be damaged if the mark is registered, because it would falsely suggest a connection between the Army and the hockey team.”

The VGK offered its rebuttal: “We strongly dispute the Army’s allegations that confusion is likely between the Army Golden Knights parachute team and the Vegas Golden Knights major-league hockey team. Indeed, the two entities have been coexisting without any issues for over a year, and we are not aware of a single complaint from anyone attending our games that they were expecting to see the parachute team and not a professional hockey game.”

Perhaps, but the VGK color scheme is the same gold and black as West Point’s sports teams, along with the helmet logo, and West Point has a hockey team, “so there are many similarities that could make a strong argument for trademark infringement.”

The Patent office gave the VGK until February 19 to respond to the Army’s January trademark objection; Vegas filed a settlement motion with the patent office’s trademark trial and appeal board on Jan. 25. The motion gives the hockey team 90 days to settle the issues with the Army.

“I’ve always felt it was going to work out,” Knights owner Bill Foley said. “We’re trying to form a joint-use agreement where both sides can continue to have their name.”

Even if the VGK settle with the Army, another entity, the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York, also uses the Golden Knights for its athletic teams and is reportedly also deciding whether to oppose the VGK trademark.

Two other teams use the Golden Knights name: Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y., and the University of Central Florida. But again reportedly, the VGK cleared the name with them. All the other Golden Knights team names could support the VGK’s contention that they can all co-exist without confusion.

We’re following this story and will report on further developments as they arise.