U.S. Army Files Trademark Complaint Against Vegas Golden Knights

The Department of the Army filed a notice of opposition with the United States Patent and Trademark Office contesting the Vegas Golden Knights logo and team name is in violation of an Army trademark. Wednesday was the deadline to oppose the trademark for both the Army and the College of Saint Rose, sportslogos.net reported.

The Army filed the notice on the following grounds:

• Priority and likelihood of confusion
• Dilution by blurring
• False suggestion of a connection with persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or brings them into contempt, or dispute

The Golden Knights is the name of the Army's parachute team, which uses the color scheme chosen by Las Vegas' professional hockey franchise. The complaint cites a Washington Post article in which Vegas Golden Knights general manager George McPhee referenced owner Bill Foley's connection with the military. Foley is a 1976 graduate of the United States Military Academy. In that article McPhee alluded to the military influencing the team's color scheme.

"Bill Foley is a West Point guy, sort of using those colors," Golden Knights general manager George McPhee said. "You know his history at West Point. You know about the classmates he had that he lost serving this country. So those colors mean a lot to us...," McPhee told the Washington Post.

In the complaint the Army alleges that McPhee's comments "outlined the applicant's attempt to draw a connection with the Opposer by use of Opposer's color trade dress."

The Vegas Golden Knights responded to the notice on Thursday with the following statement:

"We strongly dispute the Army's allegations that confusion is likley between the Army Golden Knights parachcute team and the Vegas Golden Knights major-league hockey team. Indeed, the two entities have been coexisting without any issues for over a year (along with several other Golden Knights trademarks owners) and we are not aware of a single complaint from anyone attending any of our games that they were expecting to see the parachute team and not a professional hockey game. That said, in light of the pending trademark opposition proceedings, we will have no further comment at this time and will address the Army's opposition in the relevant legal forums."

Image via John Locher/Associated Press