Latest news with #Utah-centric
Chicago Tribune
30-01-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Utah Hockey Club narrows the choice of a permanent name to 3 finalists — and it won't be the Yeti
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Hockey Club has chosen three finalists for the permanent team name it will adopt beginning with the 2025-26 NHL season. The franchise will use a final round of fan voting to decide among the Utah Mammoth, Utah Hockey Club and Utah Wasatch. Team officials backed away from including Yeti as a finalist after being unable to work out a co-existence agreement with Yeti Coolers to use the name in branding and merchandising. 'They have a unique trademark that allows them to prevent the use of the word Yeti or Yetis,' Smith Entertainment Group executive Mike Maughan said. 'They made a determination for the sake of their brand that they didn't want to enter into a coexistence.' The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office earlier this month refused a request by the club, citing a 'likelihood of confusion' with other notable brands using the name, such as Yeti Coolers. An email sent Wednesday by the Associated Press to Yeti Coolers LLC seeking comment was not immediately returned. Fans in attendance at the next four home games, starting Wednesday night against Pittsburgh, will vote at designated iPad stations at the Delta Center to help decide the team's name and logo. It will unveil a first look at designs for the logo, jerseys and branding associated with each choice. Only fans in attendance will be allowed to vote at the Penguins game, against Columbus on Friday, St. Louis on Sunday and Philadelphia on Tuesday. The permanent team name and logo will be unveiled ahead of Utah's 2025-26 regular-season opener. Wasatch filled the finalist spot originally intended for Yeti. Wasatch is a reference to the Wasatch Mountains, which run north to south along the east side of the Salt Lake Valley. 'We wanted to honor this idea people had for a mythical snow creature like the Yeti and bring a very Utah-centric approach to it,' Maughan said. 'Because we have the Wasatch Mountains, because we have the Wasatch Front, we have so many different iterations or ways we can do it. We wanted to honor the sentiment of one of those top names of the last iteration (of fan voting) while also including a Utah-centric version of it.' Originally Published: January 29, 2025 at 4:33 PM CST
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Utah Hockey Club scraps permanent Yeti nickname due to copyright dispute with cooler company
The Utah Hockey Club is moving on from a nickname many believed would eventually become its permanent moniker, the Utah Yeti. The primary reason why: a cooler brand. Mike Maughan, an executive of the team's parent company Smith Entertainment Group, confirmed to reporters Wednesday, per ESPN, that the team would pivot to a different selection of possible names after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected the Yeti name and logo it submitted for approval. The USPTO specifically cited a "likelihood of confusion" for consumers due to other companies and brands with a similar name, most notably the Yeti Cooler Company. Different companies can feature a similar name if they're in clearly different fields (e.g. the Beatles' Apple Corps and Apple Computers), but it seems likely an NHL team with the same name would clash with the products such as the cooler company's apparel line. The hockey team attempted to negotiate an agreement with the cooler company, but is now moving on per ESPN: "We engaged deeply with Yeti Cooler Company and worked with them over a process to see if there was some coexistence agreement that we could engage with them on," said Maughan. "They have a unique and strong trademark on anything published Yeti or Yetis. We did not have a coexistence agreement with Yeti and therefore have decided to move on from that name." With Yeti off the table, the team is now mulling three options. The Hockey Club announced that fans will be able vote on three options for its permanent nickname: Utah Hockey Club, the incumbent Utah Mammoth, one of the other six finalists presented last year Utah Wasatch, named for the Wasatch mountain range in Utah (not unlike MLB's Colorado Rockies) The latter option is described as "a new option created to honor the idea of a mythical snow creature with a Utah-centric approach inspired by the Wasatch Mountain range." In practice, it appears to be a go-around for the Yeti nickname, using a Yeti mascot without the name. Fans will be able to vote on the choices at the Delta Center over the Club's next four home games, spanning Jan. 29 to Feb. 4. The Utah Hockey Club was officially created last April, after the sale and relocation of the Arizona Coyotes. The process to figure its permanent nickname has been anything but straightforward. There was an initial round of fan voting that identified six finalists: Blizzard, Hockey Club, Mammoth, Outlaws, Venom or Yeti. During a second phase of voting, the team announced it would go ahead with Hockey Club as its interim identity. The results of that second round of voting were never revealed, though ESPN notes team owner Ryan Smith acknowledged the Mammoth as one of the team's final four. Now, with two of the original six still aboard and another one added to the mix, we're on to another round of voting to finally end this thing once and for all, right? Right? Well, ESPN reports Maughan acknowledged that another round of voting could come after this, though he reiterated the team will have its real name picked out for next season. So that could be four rounds of voting over a year to name a hockey team, which could end up just being called the Utah Hockey Club long-term. This process has been rather odd, but no one can say it lacked for effort.
Boston Globe
29-01-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Utah Hockey Club narrows the choice of a permanent name to three finalists. It won't be the Yeti.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office earlier this month refused a request by the club, citing a 'likelihood of confusion' with other notable brands using the name, such as Yeti Coolers. An email sent Wednesday by The Associated Press to Yeti Coolers LLC seeking comment was not immediately returned. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Related : Advertisement Fans in attendance at the next four home games, starting Wednesday night against Pittsburgh, will vote at designated iPad stations at the Delta Center to help decide the team's name and logo. It will unveil a first look at designs for the logo, jerseys and branding associated with each choice. Only fans in attendance will be allowed to vote at the Penguins game, against the Blue Jackets on Friday, the Blues on Sunday, and the Flyers on Tuesday. The permanent team name and logo will be unveiled ahead of Utah's 2025-26 regular-season opener. Fans attending the next four home games for the Utah Hockey Club will have a say in the permanent name of the team. Melissa Majchrzak/Associated Press Wasatch filled the finalist spot originally intended for Yeti. Wasatch is a reference to the Wasatch Mountains, which run north to south along the east side of the Salt Lake Valley. 'We wanted to honor this idea people had for a mythical snow creature like the Yeti and bring a very Utah-centric approach to it,' Maughan said. 'Because we have the Wasatch Mountains, because we have the Wasatch Front, we have so many different iterations or ways we can do it. We wanted to honor the sentiment of one of those top names of the last iteration [of fan voting] while also including a Utah-centric version of it.' Advertisement
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Utah Hockey Club narrows the choice of a permanent name to three finalists. It won't be the Yeti
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah Hockey Club has chosen three finalists for the permanent team name it will adopt beginning with the 2025-26 NHL season. The franchise will use a final round of fan voting to decide among the Utah Mammoth, Utah Hockey Club and Utah Wasatch. Team officials backed away from including Yeti as a finalist after being unable to work out a co-existence agreement with Yeti Coolers to use the name in branding and merchandising. 'They have a unique trademark that allows them to prevent the use of the word Yeti or Yetis,' Smith Entertainment Group executive Mike Maughan said. 'They made a determination for the sake of their brand that they didn't want to enter into a coexistence.' The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office earlier this month refused a request by the club, citing a 'likelihood of confusion' with other notable brands using the name, such as Yeti Coolers. An email sent Wednesday by The Associated Press to Yeti Coolers LLC seeking comment was not immediately returned. Fans in attendance at the next four home games, starting Wednesday night against Pittsburgh, will vote at designated iPad stations at the Delta Center to help decide the team's name and logo. It will unveil a first look at designs for the logo, jerseys and branding associated with each choice. Only fans in attendance will be allowed to vote at the Penguins game, against Columbus on Friday, St. Louis on Sunday and Philadelphia on Tuesday. The permanent team name and logo will be unveiled ahead of Utah's 2025-26 regular-season opener. Wasatch filled the finalist spot originally intended for Yeti. Wasatch is a reference to the Wasatch Mountains, which run north to south along the east side of the Salt Lake Valley. 'We wanted to honor this idea people had for a mythical snow creature like the Yeti and bring a very Utah-centric approach to it,' Maughan said. 'Because we have the Wasatch Mountains, because we have the Wasatch Front, we have so many different iterations or ways we can do it. We wanted to honor the sentiment of one of those top names of the last iteration (of fan voting) while also including a Utah-centric version of it.' ___ AP NHL:
NBC Sports
29-01-2025
- Business
- NBC Sports
Utah Hockey Club narrows the choice of a permanent name to three finalists. It won't be the Yeti
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Hockey Club has chosen three finalists for the permanent team name it will adopt beginning with the 2025-26 NHL season. The franchise will use a final round of fan voting to decide among the Utah Mammoth, Utah Hockey Club and Utah Wasatch. Team officials backed away from including Yeti as a finalist after being unable to work out a co-existence agreement with Yeti Coolers to use the name in branding and merchandising. 'They have a unique trademark that allows them to prevent the use of the word Yeti or Yetis,' Smith Entertainment Group executive Mike Maughan said. 'They made a determination for the sake of their brand that they didn't want to enter into a coexistence.' The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office earlier this month refused a request by the club, citing a 'likelihood of confusion' with other notable brands using the name, such as Yeti Coolers. An email sent Wednesday by The Associated Press to Yeti Coolers LLC seeking comment was not immediately returned. Fans in attendance at the next four home games, starting Wednesday night against Pittsburgh, will vote at designated iPad stations at the Delta Center to help decide the team's name and logo. It will unveil a first look at designs for the logo, jerseys and branding associated with each choice. Only fans in attendance will be allowed to vote at the Penguins game, against Columbus on Friday, St. Louis on Sunday and Philadelphia on Tuesday. The permanent team name and logo will be unveiled ahead of Utah's 2025-26 regular-season opener. Wasatch filled the finalist spot originally intended for Yeti. Wasatch is a reference to the Wasatch Mountains, which run north to south along the east side of the Salt Lake Valley. 'We wanted to honor this idea people had for a mythical snow creature like the Yeti and bring a very Utah-centric approach to it,' Maughan said. 'Because we have the Wasatch Mountains, because we have the Wasatch Front, we have so many different iterations or ways we can do it. We wanted to honor the sentiment of one of those top names of the last iteration (of fan voting) while also including a Utah-centric version of it.'
