Utah Hockey Club still plans to unveil new identity for 2025-26 despite ‘Yetis’ being refused

Utah Hockey Club says it still expects to unveil its new identity for the 2025-26 season, despite having the “Utah Yetis” refused by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

“Since acquiring Utah’s NHL team, we have been carefully evaluating possibilities for the permanent identity of the team, while working within the complicated world of trademarks and intellectual property,” Chris Armstrong, president of hockey operations said in a statement Thursday.

According to Ryan Miller of KSL.com, the USPTO refused the “Utah Yetis” due to a “likelihood of confusion” with the YETI brand of drinkware, coolers and bags.

“Trademark Act Section 2(d) bars registration of an applied-for mark that is so similar to a registered mark that it is likely consumers would be confused, mistaken, or deceived as to the commercial source of the goods and/or services of the parties,” the USPTO said in a Jan. 9 statement.

It’s not the first team name that’s been denied by the trademark office. Both the “Utah Blizzard” and “Utah Venom” were denied for similar reasons to Yetis being denied. As for “Utah Hockey Club,” it was refused early on due to the name being “primarily geographically descriptive,” or as Miller of KSL.com put it: “You can’t just trademark ‘Utah.'”

Last June, Utah announced it had narrowed down the list of candidates to six possible selections: Utah Blizzard, Utah HC, Utah Mammoth, Utah Outlaws, Utah Venom and Utah Yeti. Of those six, only the Mammoth and Outlaws haven’t been denied.

Utah is 21-19-7 with 49 points, sixth in the Central Division and four points out of a Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. They have won three straight games and are 5-4-1 in their last 10 contests.

Captain Clayton Keller leads in all offensive categories, scoring 17 goals and adding 34 assists for 51 points in 46 regular-season games with Utah.