NFL Trademark Battle With XFL Roughnecks Logo Moved To March

It recently came to the surface that the NFL opposed both of the main and alternate logos used by the Roughnecks. The XFL originally had until February 6th to respond to the NFL’s case, but it has since been extended to March 8th for the H (main), and March 30th for the MAN (alternate).

The NFL claims that the oil derrick used the H logo is too similar to the one used in the former Houston Oilers franchise, of which they still market products.

The claim for the MAN trademark is that it looks too much like the Patriots “Pat Patriot” logo. Both objections claim that the consumer could be confused by them, accidentally purchasing a Roughnecks product, thinking it represents the Oilers or the Patriots.

These aren’t newly filed objections, as it may seem. The way it works is, someone files a trademark for a logo with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

After that, the USPTO allows a 7-month window for potential oppositions. Just because a trademark has oppositions, doesn’t mean they aren’t granted the mark, the timeframe only allows for officially exclaiming an issue if there is one.

After that, the office usually grants the license, and sets a timeframe for response to the opposition. There can be 2 extensions, 60 and 90 days in length. After those extensions, 40 days is given for the parties to negotiate before a court date.

In these cases, the trademarks for the Roughnecks logos were filed on August 20th, 2019, opposed in December that year, and officially published on June 30th, 2020.

That started the clock for the opposition to become official. After both extensions were exhausted, court dates were set, but have been extended.

A settlement is the most likely outcome.