The newly named Utah Mammoth have filed a federal lawsuit towards an Oregon-based hockey gear firm, escalating a trademark dispute over using the phrase “Mammoth” and related branding. Filed this week in U.S. District Court docket in Utah, the lawsuit names Mammoth Hockey LLC because the defendant and goals to resolve a standoff over naming rights between the 2 entities, based on paperwork obtained by the Related Press. 

Smith Leisure Group — the possession group behind the NHL’s Utah Mammoth — believes it’s legally entitled to make use of the identify beneath each state and federal trademark regulation with claims that its branding doesn’t hurt the gear producer’s enterprise. The Mammoth revealed its everlasting identify and brand in Might, following the group’s relocation from Arizona and a transitional first season in Salt Lake Metropolis beneath the placeholder “Utah Hockey Membership.”

Shortly thereafter, Mammoth Hockey despatched a cease-and-desist letter objecting to using the identify and mammoth-themed brand. The corporate argued that the similarities may result in client confusion, doubtlessly impacting its skill to market to hockey followers and gamers. The corporate has been producing outsized hockey gear luggage since 2014.

“Mammoth Hockey intends to vigorously defend the litigation lately commenced towards it by Utah Mammoth of the Nationwide Hockey League and shield its longstanding trademark utilized in reference to the hockey items it has manufactured and offered for the previous 10 years,” Mammoth Hockey co-founder Erik Olson stated in a press release to the Deseret Information.

Each events incorporate a mammoth design of their logos and function throughout the identical common trade, growing the chance of brand name overlap at retail and on-line. The Utah Mammoth is getting into its second NHL season and its first beneath the brand new identify.