Army files challenge over Vegas Golden Knights' name

Scott Gleeson | USA TODAY

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The Department of the Army filed a formal opposition on Wednesday with the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office against the Vegas Golden Knights' ownership group, Black Knight Sports and Entertainment, for using a similar team name — "the Golden Knights" — and a similar color pattern.

Army's athletic teams go by the Black Knights, while the U.S. Army Parachute Team goes by the Golden Knights.

With a concern that the brand could be "damaged" by the newly franchised NHL team taking a similar name and using a similar color scheme, Army listed three grounds of opposition on the complaint: Dilution, false suggestion of connection and the possibility of being brought into disrepute (via Sportslogos.net).

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In the opposition, Army lists a November interview with Golden Knights owner Bill Foley, a West Point graduate, when he referenced Army as inspiration for the name and explained that the franchise opted not to use "Black Knights" because there is "already a Blackhawks in the league."

On Thursday, the NHL team released a statement "strongly disputing" the complaint, that read, in part: "We are not aware of a single complaint from anyone attending our games that they were expecting to see the parachute team and not a professional hockey game."

The @GoldenKnights release statement on Dept. of Army going after them on trademark violation grounds.



"We are not aware of a single complaint from anyone attending our games that they were expecting to see the parachute team and not a professional hockey game" = fine art. pic.twitter.com/981zkOqD9n — Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) January 11, 2018

The Las Vegas Golden Knights have until Feb. 19 to respond to the notice, or the team will risk forfeiting the trademark. Sportslogos.net was the first to report the filing.

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