Seattle NHL Brand Discussion

[Sport]

On 5/30/2019 at 4:42 AM, Ben in LA said:

HAT CLUB will be dropping this cap soon: Seattle Pilots. Not a bad look actually.

 

 

@seanmccarthycreative "Pilots" 59FIFTY

"The backstory for the inspiration behind this logo was to create a concept identity for a future Seattle hockey team, which started way back in 2012; long before Seattle was awarded a team.

Every Seattle NHL concept on the web seems to go with Metropolitans, Totems, Sockeyes, Evergreens, or Kraken so I wanted to try something that a lot of people hadn't done to that point before and I wanted to tie the new team into the city's sports history.

So I used the Seattle Pilots name to give it a second chance after their one failed season in Major League Baseball. The final result was this pilot stylized to match the era when Seattle took off as the capitol for aviation manufacturing."

 

 

meh. not feeling it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ben in LA]

On 5/31/2019 at 6:15 AM, McCarthy said:

 

 

meh. not feeling it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOL

[Krz]

Maybe a stupid question but, would the team even be allowed to be called the pilots? 

[Webhamster]

48 minutes ago, KRZYBDGRZ said:

Maybe a stupid question but, would the team even be allowed to be called the pilots? 

 

If they acquire any currently owned rights to the name I don't see why not.  Unless it runs afoul of the NHL marketing department or MLB throws an objection. That would all fall on the lawyers to clear or not clear everything legally.

 

The process would probably go (assuming no NHL objection):

Seattle: Hey NHL we want to be the Seattle Pilots.

NHL: OK Cool, we don't have a problem with that name as part our league identity.

Seattle: Lawyers? Can we do this? Ar there rights issues? How much would it cost us to resolve those?

 

~ Later ~

 

Seattle: Oh really? That much? OK, Sockeyes it is then!

NHL: Groan, not that stupid name. Find a better one.  And NOT Kraken!

 

 

[spartacat_12]

1 hour ago, KRZYBDGRZ said:

Maybe a stupid question but, would the team even be allowed to be called the pilots? 

 

Denver's MLB expansion team was able to call themselves the Rockies, so I'd say this would make the two leagues even.

[BeerGuyJordan]

47 minutes ago, Webhamster said:

 

If they acquire any currently owned rights to the name I don't see why not.  Unless it runs afoul of the NHL marketing department or MLB throws an objection. That would all fall on the lawyers to clear or not clear everything legally.

 

The process would probably go (assuming no NHL objection):

Seattle: Hey NHL we want to be the Seattle Pilots.

NHL: OK Cool, we don't have a problem with that name as part our league identity.

Seattle: Lawyers? Can we do this? Ar there rights issues? How much would it cost us to resolve those?

 

~ Later ~

 

Seattle: Oh really? That much? OK, Sockeyes it is then!

NHL: Groan, not that stupid name. Find a better one.  And NOT Kraken!

 

 

The fact that we got the Vegas Golden Knights gives me zero confidence in the league's role in this process.

 

23 minutes ago, spartacat_12 said:

 

Denver's MLB expansion team was able to call themselves the Rockies, so I'd say this would make the two leagues even.

Turnabout has nothing to do with it. It comes down to whether the Brewers or the MLB kept up the mark on the Pilots. The Devils probably let the mark lapse on the Rockies, since the MLB got a team with the same name, or an arrangement was reached with the Devils.

[LMU]

On 5/25/2019 at 2:24 PM, Ice_Cap said:

It’s pretty stupid that the NHL is putting the name of a pretty new division over a potential name for the Seattle club that actually has a lot of history. 

 

That’s the NHL for ya though. Welcome to the party

The Washington Nationals have been in both the National and American Leagues and nobody has had a coronary over it.

[Mingjai]

9 hours ago, BeerGuyJordan said:

The fact that we got the Vegas Golden Knights gives me zero confidence in the league's role in this process.

 

Turnabout has nothing to do with it. It comes down to whether the Brewers or the MLB kept up the mark on the Pilots. The Devils probably let the mark lapse on the Rockies, since the MLB got a team with the same name, or an arrangement was reached with the Devils.

 

The Seattle Pilots mark is owned by the Brewers for use on clothing, but interestingly, it technically lapsed too, as the trademark registration was filed in 2006 and registered in 2009. Not exactly going back to the original usage.

 

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4807:ddzy8g.6.4

[BeerGuyJordan]

14 hours ago, Mingjai said:

 

The Seattle Pilots mark is owned by the Brewers for use on clothing, but interestingly, it technically lapsed too, as the trademark registration was filed in 2006 and registered in 2009. Not exactly going back to the original usage.

 

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4807:ddzy8g.6.4

That lapse could spell trouble if someone claimed they began utilizing it during the interim, but it should be pretty airtight in preventing any new franchise from utilizing it. I'd have to ask my girlfriend to be sure, she's the IP paralegal. Most of my knowledge comes from conversation with her about the matter.

 

16 hours ago, LMU said:

The Washington Nationals have been in both the National and American Leagues and nobody has had a coronary over it.

No, but people have called it stupid and maybe even slightly confusing, in a somewhat who's on first way. The ones taking it beyond a passing comment are a very small group, to be sure, but they're out there.

[Mingjai]

4 hours ago, BeerGuyJordan said:

That lapse could spell trouble if someone claimed they began utilizing it during the interim, but it should be pretty airtight in preventing any new franchise from utilizing it. I'd have to ask my girlfriend to be sure, she's the IP paralegal. Most of my knowledge comes from conversation with her about the matter.

 

There's a case involving the Dodgers I recall from law school regarding the interim use (which I understand is still good law):

Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. v. Sed Non Olet Denarius, Ltd., 817 F. Supp. 1103 (S.D.N.Y. 1993)

And here's the associated Times story for those who don't want to read the actual opinion:

https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/09/nyregion/historic-day-bar-dodger-stays-brooklyn-judge-says-among-other-things-that-los.html

 

The current trademark registration would most likely prevent anyone from using the Seattle Pilots name without the Brewers' permission, though based on what I know about trademark litigation as an IP damages consultant, I can see arguments that would make a potential infingment or dilution case not so much of a slam dunk for the Brewers as you might expect.

[TaylorMade]

So NHLSeattle.com appears to have re-branded with some unique colors

 

[Ark]

Looks like Sockeyes

 

I love embracing pink.

[Ridleylash]

20 minutes ago, TaylorMade said:

So NHLSeattle.com appears to have re-branded with some unique colors

 

(Heads up: image broke.)

Light red and light blue? That's certainly a unique color combo. Also lends credence to them adopting Sockeyes as a name.

 

I kinda figured red+black was ultimately a placeholder, but this combo already looks pretty nice.

[Dynasty]

I do like that color scheme, and I don't hate the 'Sockeyes' name either, but it'll make for obviously humorous headlines if they get curb-stomped when facing San Jose, Boston, or Vancouver in a game.

[BKarchitect]

Salmon and Seafoam?  Lovely...I could see maybe black as a tertiary color to inject some contrast?  I mean I like the Salmon and Seafoam combo but it's very "soft" as an overall look...a dash of a darker, bolder tertiary color might help it pop a bit more.

[IceCap]

 

Make it happen, Seattle. Salmon and seafoam is a great throwback to the Metros' colour scheme without being the Metros' colour scheme or stepping on the Wild's toes.

[VancouverFan69]

10 minutes ago, Dolphins Dynasty said:

I do like that color scheme, and I don't hate the 'Sockeyes' name either, but it'll make for obviously humorous headlines if they get curb-stomped when facing San Jose, Boston, or Vancouver in a game.

 

Lumberjacks and Canadians in general do like salmon.

[VancouverFan69]

8 minutes ago, Ice_Cap said:

 

Make it happen, Seattle. Salmon and seafoam is a great throwback to the Metros' colour scheme without being the Metros' colour scheme or stepping on the Wild's toes.

 

Couldn't care less about Wild. Sorry.

 

Those colours do look great, though. I'd use forest green as the primary with salmon red and seafoam as the secondary uniform colours. Black can be used in the logo.

[IceCap]

9 minutes ago, VancouverFan69 said:

Couldn't care less about Wild. Sorry.

They are a team in the league though. Same conference too. You wanna avoid a derivative look if you can manage it.

[VancouverFan69]

31 minutes ago, Ice_Cap said:

They are a team in the league though. Same conference too. You wanna avoid a derivative look if you can manage it.

 

Here's the thing...the Wild(SMH) use very little red, which is more on the dark side. The Wild also use red numbers on their whites. Seattle could still use more of that bright salmon red and touches of seafoam on a forest green base. Their number font on white could be green bordered by seafoam and then salmon red on the outside.