U.S. army files lawsuit against the Vegas Golden Knights for copying name and colour scheme

The U.S. Army is filing a lawsuit against NHL expansion team, the Vegas Golden Knight for using a name which is already trademarked for the U.S. Army’s parachuting team.

The U.S. Army has a parachuting unit called the Golden Knights that shares a similar colour scheme with the Vegas Golden Knights and could lead to confusion with their parachuting unit. The NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights use a gold, black and white combination of colours while the U.S. Army’s Golden Knights use a black, yellow and white colour combination. They both also have a golden-coloured Knight in the middle of their symbol.

The Vegas Golden Knights put out a statement in responses to the Army’s trademark lawsuit: “We are not aware of a single complaint from anyone attending our games that they were expecting to see the parachute team and not a professional hockey game.”

The U.S. Army claims that they have been using the name since 1969 whereas the Vegas Golden Knights only released the name in 2016. The Vegas Golden Knight were originally supposed to be the Black Knights but that was too close to the Blackhawks, another NHL team, so they used Golden Knights instead.

The Vegas Golden Nights are the most recent team to be added to the National Hockey League and have been taking the NHL by storm this season. The Golden Knights are currently first place in their conference, division and are second overall in the NHL. With a record of 29-10-2, they might even have a chance at winning the Stanley Cup.