I took Intellectual Property Law in law school. You can't register a trademark unless you're selling a product actually in use.
From a source:
To get a trademark, you need to meet the following six requirements:
1. Provide your name and address as owner of the trademark.
2. State the entity type (individual or corporation) and your national citizenship.
3. Demonstrate actual use or a real intent to use the trademark in commerce.
4. Give a detailed description of the product being trademarked.
5. Submit a drawing or specimen of the trademark.
6. Offer the date of the first use of the trademark.
I am not all that interested in the battle of Washington trying to find a new team name, but based on what I have seen so far . . .
1) The guy obviously supplied his name and address.
2) And he supplied his status and citizenship.
3) He claims that he has designed apparel and/or collectibles with all the names he trademarked and has samples of them all in his house. He is said to have a bunch of stuffed
animals wearing the stuff that he intends to sell.
4) He says that he has future plans to market and sell these items (not really defined or an actual timeline for production).
5) I believe he filed color schemes, basic designs, and logos for his proposed Washington named teams.
6) I believe he listed the date of first use as the date of his application for the names.
Allegedly, the guy now says he is not in it to make a profit or to sell the naming rights / trademarks. That doesn't make a ton of sense to me, as why shell out thousands of dollars for nothing. To be clear, he has not been awarded / issued a trademark, he's only submitted applications. I don't think he has a great case as he is not actively using all the names he applied to trademark. But that's what I saw being reported as a potential hold up for the Washington football team.
I have also heard that another more serious obstacle would be if the team picked a name that is in use by a college team. Apparently that school is currently in court with someone else over a trademark issue. I don't know how this stuff works, as it seems to me that there are a lot of schools with the same mascots or nicknames. For example, there are 33 colleges who are known as the Wildcats. There are 61 schools that go by the Eagles. And there are 43 schools that go by the Tigers.
Why the name of a pro team is suddenly an issue is above my pay grade. Maybe the logo design is too similar to a college with the same name. Who knows . . .
