With the Golden State Warriors defeating the Houston Rockets last night, the NBA finals has been set: Golden State vs. Cleveland.  I won’t get into a discussion about either series, as I’m still recovering from the dud my Chicago Bulls put up against Cleveland in Game 6 of their series, but I WILL talk about the new logos and trademarks the NBA has filed.

Before getting into each team, I do want to point out that the NBA (as an organization) has taken a page out of the Seattle Seahawks’ marketing plan (see here) and has applied for the following:

The 6th man, for those of you who don’t know, refers to the first person off the bench.  In this case, however, the NBA will use it to refer to the crowd, much like the Seahawks’ use “12” and “12th Man” to refer to its fans.

Moving on to individual teams, here is a list of new marks that have been applied for in 2015 by NBA teams:

Atlanta Hawks –

Chicago Bulls –

Detroit Pistons – 

Houston Rockets – 

Los Angeles Clippers –

Milwaukee Bucks – 

Philadelphia 76ers – 

Sacramento Kings – 

Washington Wizards –

Most of these have been filed as “intent to use” trademark applications (“ITU”).  In order for a trademark to register, it must be used “in commerce.”  With the NBA season not having been concluded yet, teams have not officially begun using these marks “in commerce” and will need to convert the applications to “in use” as soon as they do.  An ITU can be used to reserve a name/logo if you come up with a new mark before actually using it.  This is exactly what the NBA teams have done and we can expect these to convert as soon as each mark enters “commerce.”