Washington Commanders get trademark application denied
The Washington Commanders got a bit of bad news this week when they learned the trademark for their own name was rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
According to patent lawyer Josh Gerben, the team should be able to work through the issues that are currently keeping them from getting trademark approval.
For starters, the office rejected the trademark application because there is a similar trademark for the Commanders’ Classic, the Army versus Air Force regular-season rivalry game.
Since it is unlikely that people would reasonably confuse the Washington NFL team with a single college football game, it’s possible that the team can submit an argument stating as much.
The second reason the trademark office rejected their application is that a DC-area man previously submitted trademarks for the Washington Space Commanders and Washington Wolf Commanders.
Both trademarks are still pending but their existence means the team can’t move forward until those applications are pulled.
The local man, Martin McCaulay, told reporters that he filed the applications in anticipation of the team picking one of those names as the new brand.
He also hired a lawyer in 2020 to reach out to Dan Snyder to tell the team owner that he would be open to discussions about freeing up the trademarks. McCaulay said he would help without the need to “incur substantial legal fees.”
NFL teams, and many other organizations, trademark their names to prevent others from abusing their name or brand without consent.
When the team initially changed the branding to the Commanders, the new name trickled out early after NBC Sports cameras spotted preliminary graphics for the logo. There was also further confirmation when the NFL’s website host bought the Commanders.com domain.
Commanders nearing sale approval
The Washington Commanders are in the process of changing ownership — and the ordeal is taking a little bit longer than the involved parties expected. However, NBC Sports reported on Tuesday that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has expressed confidence in the Commander’s purchase becoming official in the near future.
According to the report, Goodell and folks at the NFL offices are trying their best to expedite the process to get the new ownership in place.
“I think we’ll get it to a place where it’ll be approved,” Goodell said, per NBC, who also expects the Harris group to break ground on a new stadium sometime in the near future as part of their new acquisition of the franchise.
Though the NFL is hoping to move swiftly through these last few obstacles. The good news is Goodell seems confident the league’s vetting process will go smoothly and the Harris group will get approval to move forward on the purchase.
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