It is becoming a mammoth headache for both sides. The NHL’s Utah Mammoth filed a federal lawsuit against a hockey equipment manufacturer to settle a trademark dispute over the team’s name.
Why is the fight over ‘Mammoth’ escalating?
The suit escalates the fight between the hockey club and Mammoth Hockey, a company that manufactures oversized equipment bags. The Oregon-based company sent a cease and desist letter to the team on June 10, claiming potential customers would confuse the two brands and fans of rival teams would not purchase its products.
Smith Entertainment Group filed the complaint Aug. 1 as a response to that letter. The team’s filing said their “use of the ‘Utah Mammoth’ trademark is fully compliant with relevant federal and state law, and not violative of any trademark rights defendant may possess.”
The NHL’s Mammoth, who moved from Arizona following the 2023 season, played as the Utah Hockey Club in 2024. They conducted a fan survey earlier this year to choose a permanent name that would reflect their new home. Mammoth was the runaway winner after several early choices were ruled out. Team owner Ryan Smith spoke about the chaotic process during the name unveiling on May 7.
“The process I probably wouldn’t recommend,” Smith said. “Not because I don’t believe in the voting of nearly a million people, but it’s changed a little where AI’s like, it’s not like they’re just voting with their numbers or their words — they’re now voting with images that are like no designer could ever develop. So, I actually think we leaned into that and we actually came up with something really cool.”
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Is this the first issue for Utah’s hockey team?
SEG had a trademark dispute during the fan voting as well. The name Utah Yeti was one of the final six choices, but the team could not come to a co-existence agreement with Yeti Coolers, LLC.
The Mammoth’s statement announcing their current lawsuit said, “Utah Mammoth and the NHL believe strongly that we have the right to use the name Utah Mammoth under federal and state law, and that our use will not harm the defendant or its business in any way.”
The team and the equipment company may share a name and operate in the same space, but their logos and colors do not closely resemble one another.
What are the two sides saying about the lawsuit?
Mammoth Hockey co-founder Erik Olson told the Deseret News, “Mammoth Hockey intends to vigorously defend the litigation recently commenced against it and protect its longstanding trademark used in connection with the hockey goods it has manufactured and sold for the past 10 years.”
The bag manufacturer was the first party to use the trademark in commerce and would have “common law rights” to it. However, the legal filings said the company has no federally registered trademark for the name.
Unless the two parties can work out an agreement, a federal judge in Utah may have to decide which “Mammoth” has the right to the name.
