Yeti: A Cooler Brand or a Hockey Team

Recently the Utah Hockey Club, located in Salt Lake City, has been in between names for the official start of their 2025 to 2026 season. This new hockey club in Salt Lake City is owned by Ryan Smith, who also owns the Utah Jazz Basketball Team, and has put this decision up to the fans.¹ A survey was conducted through a program owned by Smith, called Qualtrics, where fans were able to write in potential name suggestions for the hockey team.² The fans chose several names as finalists: the Utah Mammoth, the Utah Outlaws, and the Utah Yetis.³ The club has also decided to put this final decision up to the fans by letting them vote at home games at the Delta Center. The fans will be choosing both the final team’s name and logo.⁴ One of the names that was up for grabs and popular among the fans was the” Utah Yetis”, which was ultimately rejected due to legal reasons in early January of 2025.⁵ The legal reason was possible customer confusion with the cooler brand ”Yeti”.

Upon first thought, the name “Yeti” immediately suggests the well-known and well-marketed Yeti cooler brand. A quick Google search of the word “Yeti” brings up the Yeti Cooler Brand website that states, “Yeti: Drinkware, Hard Coolers, Soft Coolers, Bags, and More.”⁶

This raises the question, how could a cooler brand named “Yeti” be confused with a hockey team called “the Utah Yetis”? Under federal intellectual property law, a trademark is used to protect consumers from being misled about the source of a good or service, while also providing legal protection to the mark owner. As the United States Patent and Trademark Office states,” a trademark: Identifies the source of your goods or services; provides legal protection for your brand; [and] helps you guard against counterfeiting and fraud.”⁷

After the name “Utah Yetis” made it to the finale of name picks, discussions were had between the Yeti Cooler Brand and the Utah Hockey Club. Ultimately, an agreement could not be reached between the two parties.⁸ Mike Maughan of Smith Entertainment Group recently stated that,” They have a unique and strong trademark on anything published Yeti or Yetis. We did not have a coexistence agreement with Yeti and therefore have decided to move on from that name.”⁹ After both discussions with the Yeti Cooler Brand and a proposal sent to the USPTO office, it was determined that the possible trademark of ”Utah Yetis” did not pass the likelihood of confusion test.¹⁰ This is likely because of the Yeti Cooler Brand and the factors that would lean towards a consumer being confused about the source of the name” Utah Yetis”. An additional concern is the probability that the ”Utah Yetis” would be putting this trademark on merchandise such as clothing and accessories, which could bridge the market between hockey and Yeti Coolers products.¹¹

1. https://kslsports.com/nhl/ryan-smith-asks-utahns-about-potential-nhl-hockey-team-names/514586 ↩︎
2. Id. ↩︎
3. https://apnews.com/article/utah-hockey-club-team-name-5d0f338e328863560c4f382db85eff02 ↩︎
4. Id. ↩︎
5. https://www.sltrib.com/sports/utah-hockey-club/2025/01/29/yetis-is-officially-not-an-option/ ↩︎
6. https://www.google.com/search?q=yeti+&sca_esv=b71b87a039ad9bf1&ei=TWyiZ5-ANPqEw8cPg__mqAU&ved=0ahUKEwjf2tuI4qqLAxV6wvACHYO_GVUQ4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=yeti+&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiBXlldGkgMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMg0QABiABBiwAxhDGIoFMg0QABiABBiwAxhDGIoFMg0QABiABBiwAxhDGIoFMg0QABiABBiwAxhDGIoFMhwQLhiABBiwAxhDGMcBGMgDGIoFGI4FGK8B2AEBMhkQLhiABBiwAxjRAxhDGMcBGMgDGIoF2AEBMg4QABiwAxjkAhjWBNgBATIOEAAYsAMY5AIY1gTYAQEyDhAAGLADGOQCGNYE2AEBSL4FUOICWOICcAF4AZABAJgBAKABAKoBALgBA8gBAPgBAZgCAaACFJgDAIgGAZAGEboGBggBEAEYCJIHATGgBwA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp ↩︎
7. https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/what-trademark ↩︎
8. https://apnews.com/article/utah-hockey-club-team-name-5d0f338e328863560c4f382db85eff02 ↩︎
9. https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/43615454/utah-hockey-club-hold-arena-fan-vote-pick-permanent-name-yeti-rejected-patent-office ↩︎
10. https://apnews.com/article/utah-hockey-club-team-name-5d0f338e328863560c4f382db85eff02 ↩︎
11. https://www.sltrib.com/sports/utah-hockey-club/2025/01/29/yetis-is-officially-not-an-option/ ↩︎

12. image credits: https://uni-watch.com/2025/02/04/three-leaked-utah-hockey-club-logos-confirmed-as-legitimate/