Options — and obvious non-contenders — for Utah Hockey Club’s final name keep getting extended through the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
But why?
It seems that the Club’s owners do not want the public to discover their team’s new branding through the trademark applications on the open database.
While the three finalists for the hockey team’s future name are known — Smith Entertainment Group conducted fan voting on the names Utah Hockey Club, Utah Mammoth and Utah Outlaws at four Delta Center games in late January and early February — extensions on nearly a dozen trademark applications have been filed in recent weeks.
The Utah Hockey Club logos used during the inaugural season were extended on Wednesday. So were applications for Utah Outlaws and Utah Yetis, even though SEG has said it has moved on from the latter as a possible name.
Utah Mammoth, Ice, Mountaineers, Swarm, Squall, Blast, Glaciers, Hockey Club and Caribou were all extended at the beginning of February. Utah Fury, Venom and Blizzard are the only remaining names under “Uyte LLC” that have not been extended. Fury and Venom’s non-final office action came on Jan. 9 and Blizzard’s came on Jan. 16 — the organization has 90 days from that date to extend, so the window is still open.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Bear, the mascot for the Utah Hockey Club, waves a flag on the ice after the Utah Hockey Club defeated the Calgary Flames at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.
By paying to keep all of the trademark applications active, fans and media alike cannot tell which brand the team is actually choosing.
What is a non-final office action? Why is it important?
A non-final office action is a communication from a patent or trademark examiner that raises a legal problem about one’s application for the first time. The application owner is required to respond to the letter within three months (90 days) from the date it was received. In that situation, an optional three-month extension can be granted for a fee. That is what SEG has continued to do.
If the application owner’s response satisfies the initial inquiry from the USPTO, it proceeds toward registration. Even if the team is not going to use say Swarm or Glaciers for its name, SEG can pay to extend them to mask the chosen brand.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) A new NHL Utah Hockey Club team store takes shape on the top floor of the Delta Center on Tuesday, October. 1, 2024.
There seems to be another layer, though. All of the potential names thus far have been filed under the “Uyte, LLC” owner. However, the three logos that appeared on the fan survey – and were subsequently leaked to the public — are filed under “SEG Hockey, LLC.”
The new Utah Mammoth, Utah Hockey Club and Utah Outlaws logo applications were entered on Feb. 3 and have not received a non-final office action yet. It does suggest, however, that those remain the top three choices as they are the only names SEG has registered trademarked logos for, other than the inaugural ones used this season. While all the names under “Uyte, LLC” may keep getting extended until the official announcement, the logos under “SEG Hockey, LLC” would be the thing to keep an eye on.
The organization likely already knows the name and can finalize the trademarks after they announce it to the public — the timeline remains sometime in the summer before the 2025-26 season.
