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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.
Utah's possible three nicknames: Hockey Club, Mammoth, Wasatch(?)
The Utah 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.
Utah Hockey Club's search for a permanent name keeps getting more convoluted
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 Utah 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?
When will the Utah Hockey Club figure out a permanent name? (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
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.
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