Team Kentucky, Team Team Kentucky, right?

The University of Kentucky has filed a notice of opposition against a trade mark application filed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky for the sign “Team Kentucky”. The University of Kentucky registered the mark “Kentucky” for athletic clothing in 1997, and believe the “Team Kentucky” sign would likely cause confusion amongst consumers between the brands. The University is arguing consumers would mistakenly believe clothing with the sign “Team Kentucky” would be sold by the University, not the state government.

The applied for mark “Team Kentucky” was adopted by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 2019 and has been commonly used to help fund Kentucky residents who had been hard hit during the coronavirus pandemic.

Documents filed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board state the Commonwealth must file a response to the opposition by 22 September 2021.

If you have any questions on the above, please do not hesitate to contact the team at McDaniel’s Law on 0191 281 4000 or legal@mcdanielslaw.com.