U.S. Army Trademark Battle With Vegas Pro Hockey Team

The inaugural season of the Vegas Golden Knights has been a spectacular success, with the team currently ahead in the the NHL Western Conference. But an intellectual property dispute could cause some problems for the team, and its owner, Bill Foley – a “West Point guy,” as the team’s general manager described him in a free-wheeling quote that has been immortalized as part of the U.S. Army’s Notice of Opposition filed with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). Foley graduated from West Point in 1967. The general manager was explaining to a reporter how and why Foley settled on the colors for the Las Vegas Golden Knights team logo, but now both the colors and the name itself are being challenged by the U.S. Army on a number of grounds, including that the Golden Knights is also the name of the army’s parachute team. The Army – “the Opposer” in the language of the Notice – says it also uses the Golden Knights mark in public relations and for recruiting purposes. Following the filing of the Notice, the Las Vegas team issued a short statement in which it made it clear it did not intend to back down and would “address the Army’s opposition in the relevant legal forums.”