Mammoth Hockey, equipment manufacturer, asks that Utah Mammoths stop selling merchandise

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Mammoth Hockey LLC has filed an injunction that would bar the Utah Mammoth hockey team from selling any merchandise until the court makes a decision in an ongoing trademark battle.

In early May of 2025, Utah’s National Hockey League (NHL) Team changed its name from the Utah Hockey Club to the Utah Mammoths and began to publicly use the Utah Mammoth trademark in all of its team merchandise and hockey services.

On August 1st, the Utah Mammoth hockey team filed a lawsuit against an equipment manufacturing company named Mammoth Hockey that sells hockey merchandise. Mammoth Hockey LLC has reportedly been selling hockey bags and other merchandise under the term “Mammoth” since 2014.

The lawsuit alleges that Mammoth Hockey LLC has threatened legal action against the Utah Mammoths and said they committed trademark infringement and, with their name change, have led to unfair competition, despite not objecting to the Utah Mammoth name change during the “highly publicized selection process”.

Despite threatening legal action, Mammoth Hockey LLC did not initiate any proceedings, which Utah Mammoth alleges has left them “operating for months afflicted with substantial uncertainty” about whether or not Mammoth Hockey LLC would.

It also argues that the Mammoth Hockey logo and the Utah Mammoths logo, and the respective goods and services provided, are clearly different and not likely to cause confusion for consumers.

Photos of the Utah Mammoth and Mammoth Hockey LLC Logos, via court documents.

With the lawsuit, the Utah Mammoths are asking the court to grant declaratory relief and find that their name and branding do not violate Mammoth Hockey’s trademark rights.

Motion for Preliminary Injunction

This week, Mammoth Hockey filed a motion for a preliminary injunction that would prevent the hockey team from selling or marketing hockey-related goods until the court reaches a decision.

In the new filing, Mammoth Hockey argues that the Utah Mammoth did not consider potential trademark violations when choosing their new name and that the name does violate federal or common law rights.

The injunction also alleges that the Utah mammoths will lead to reverse confusion, in which a “junior user saturates the market with a similar trademark and overwhelms the senior user. The public comes to assume the senior user’s products are really the junior user’s or that the former has become somehow connected to the latter.”

Mammoth Hockey argues that Utah Mammoth’s branding will cause their goods and services to become devalued, and that consumers will confuse their ‘highly durable’ hockey-related goods with the team’s ‘cheaply made’ goods.

Additionally, they argue that the name change will cause consumers who are loyal to teams besides the Utah Mammoths to avoid products made by Mammoth Hockey, under “a mistaken belief that they would be supporting their team’s rivals.”

The Utah Mammoths have asked for an extension of three weeks to oppose the motion for a preliminary junction, which Mammoth Hockey argues is unnecessary.

However, Mammoth Hockey said they are willing to compromise and offered to extend the time limit by one week.

The full motion for the preliminary injunction can be found below.