Tilman now in more serious talks about bringing NHL to Houston

The Satellite
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Let’s hope he gets us a team!

https://www.chron.com/sports/article/tilman-fertitta-nhl-houston-18680051.php?utm_content=hed&sid=599cec2624c17c50392c7108&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=chron_breakingnews

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Cant wait

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Coyotes to Houston just makes too much sense. It seems inevitable. The only question is do you keep the name or rebrand?

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My preference would be to rebrand if he managed to bring the Coyotes here.

Hopefully rebrand them as either the Aeros or Apollos.

Most Houston pro teams have had space themed names, and the Aeros in particular have a legacy going back to Gordie Howe!

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I wonder if the Minnesota Wild still owns the Aeros name and trademarks or if they have been abandoned or owned by the leauge.

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I mean, I’m sure if the Wild do still own the Aeros marks (and I’m pretty confident they do) they’d almost certainly be willing to part with them for a manageable price. I don’t think this is an Oilers/Titans situation.

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My thinking is that if nothing else, they could bring back the old WHA Aeros logos and colors!

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I would assume they couldn’t use the Aeros name without the Wild approving first, even if colors and logos are different.

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But what about the WHA Aeros? Any reason we couldn’t use that name and logo?

The Wild certainly wouldn’t own them, and the league that did is now defunct.

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I would assume “Aeros” or “Houston Aeros” would be the problem.

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There was a WHA “Houston Aeros” before we had a minor league Houston Aeros owned by the Wild.

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How could the Wild or NHL stop us from using that? It had nothing to do with them.

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I guess Apollos would be the fallback in that case.

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The IHL/AHL Aeros likely owned the rights to the WHA Aeros, in which case the Wild own them now.

That said, I imagine if the Coyotes wanted to move to Houston and rebrand as the Aeros, the Wild handing over the rights would be a formality. It’s also a pretty safe bet that they’d mostly use the WHA-era branding.

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I’m no trademark law expert (or lawyer like you) but if the Wild currently own Houston Aeros for use in Hockey, it would be unavailable for us. That is from my layman’s understanding.

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Why would the IHL/AHL Aeros own the rights to the WHA Aeros when the league and team had both folded well before their existence?

I mean, I don’t know if they own them or not, but that seems unlikely, given how many years passed between the folding of the Aeros and the WHA and the founding of the IHL/AHL Aeros.

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As I said, how would they own the WHA Houston Aeros?

Not sure that they do, but I could be wrong.

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Expansion team or existing franchise coming to Houston?
They have to be called the Houston EV’s. Just think about the message to everyone…Aeros is still my favorite.

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The biggest rumor is that the Arizona Coyotes will relocate to Houston (they currently can’t get an arena deal and are playing in a 5,000 seat college ice house), but I haven’t heard anything definitive.

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Actually, this is silly. A simple lookup on the USPTO database shows that the Minnesota Wild own the Houston Aeros name.

(FWIW, MLB retains the rights to the Houston Buffs.)

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Well, yeah.

But there was a PRIOR USE of that name prior to the Wild owning and using it in this geographical area, specifically, the WHA Houston Aeros in the 1970s.

If a prior user can show that that name was in use prior to the claimant’s date of registration, then an opposition or cancellation can be filed.

That may be the case here.

Priority Disputes - Common Law Rights vs. Federal Trademark Registration).