US Army continues to challenge Golden Knights name, trademark

The U.S. Army has decided to fight to protect its brand.

The Army filed paperwork Wednesday with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office challenging the Golden Knights’ use of the name for Bill Foley’s NHL team along with its colors. The Army’s parachute team is known as the Golden Knights, and its primary colors are gold and black. Foley is a West Point graduate and a donor to Army Athletics.

In its filing, the Army claims it would be damaged by the hockey team should the team be granted permanent use of the mark. The team responded Thursday, stating:

“We strongly dispute the Army’s allegations that confusion is likely between the Army Golden Knights parachute team and the Vegas Golden Knights major league hockey team. Indeed, the two entities have been peacefully coexisting without any issues for over a year (along with other Golden Knights trademark owners), and we are not aware of a single complaint from anyone attending our games that they were expecting to see a parachute team and not a professional hockey game.”

The team has until Feb. 19 to respond to the Army’s claim. Peter Sadowski, the team’s executive vice president and chief legal officer, said fans need not worry about a name change.

“There is no danger of the team losing its name or logo,” he said.

Sportslogos.net first reported the news Wednesday.

Back to work

With their mandatory NHL bye week wrapping up, the Knights return to the ice at 4 p.m. Friday for practice at City National Arena to prepare for Saturday’s game against Edmonton at T-Mobile Arena.

Defenseman Jon Merrill, who has been on the injured-reserve list with a lower body injury, is expected to practice and could be activated for the Oilers contest.

Practice is free and open to the public.

Fan Fest

The Knights will be holding their Fan Fest from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday downtown at the Fremont Street Experience.

The celebration will be at the 3rd Street Stage adjacent to the D Las Vegas and selected players, coaches and team executives and broadcasters will be in attendance. Admission is free.

Wolves streak ends

The Chicago Wolves, the Knights’ American Hockey League affiliate, saw their team-record 14-game point streak end Wednesday after the Wolves were defeated 2-1 by the San Diego Gulls.

The Wolves went 12-0-1-1 during the streak which saw them move to into third place in the AHL Central Division (18-13-5-2).

More Golden Knights: Follow all of our Golden Knights coverage online at reviewjournal.com/GoldenKnights and @HockeyinVegas on Twitter.

Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.