LAS VEGAS (KLAS) -- The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office appears to have put a roadblock in place in the A's request to trademark the names "Las Vegas Athletics" and "Vegas Athletics," information on its website shows. An action letter filed on the USPTO website states that Athletics Investment Gr oup LLC, which filed trademark applications for both names, will have three months from Dec. 29 to request an extension to file a new application before the application is abandoned. Stanford physics paper appearing to be from 49ers star goes viral for wrong reasons: ‘This is gold’ The club plans to move to Las Vegas in the spring of 2028, which is when the new ballpark is set to be opened. The new 30,000-seat stadium will be located at Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard, the former site of the iconic Tropicana Hotel. In the action letter, the USPTO states that the nickname "Athletics" is too generic and does not fit the "acquired distinctiveness" needed for a trademark. The USPTO said "athletics" as a word means "activities, such as sports, exercises, and games that require physical skill and stamina," or types of clothing worn while performing sports activities. The action letter said this means the trademark claim is not distinctive enough. The action letter said the group's "claim of ownership of such registration is insufficient evidence of acquired distinctiveness because the mark is highly descriptive of the goods and/or services." "When our minds are thinking of baseball, and we hear the term 'Athletics,' obviously we're thinking of the Oakland Athletics or the team 'The Athletics,'" Lawyer Josh Gerben said. "What the USPTO is saying is they're taking a step back, and they're saying, 'hey, wait a second. What if you had the 'Las Vegas Athletics Association?'" "The idea is that if they give the Athletics, the baseball team, the registration rights on a phrase like 'Las Vegas Athletics,' that could impact a lot of other people because they're giving them a monopoly on that phrase," Gerben added. "Athletics" has been the club’s nickname since 1901, when the Philadelphia Athletics began playing. The team kept the nickname when they moved to Kansas City in 1955 and subsequently to Oakland in 1968. It claimed the prior trademark and the new application are "not the same because the city names preceding the wording ATHLETICS are different." So is this the end of the "Las Vegas Athletics"? Gerben doesn't think so. "Ultimately, this is an MLB team, and I think they're gonna figure out a way to get the trademark registered," Gerben said. Gerben explained that with this kind of refusal, the association will have to show the USPTO that its trademark has become so well-known in the industry that when a consumer sees or hears the name, they would immediately associate "Las Vegas Athletics" with the baseball team. "As soon as the MLB team can submit the evidence to show that consumers would have that impression or that perception, then, in all likelihood, the trademark office actually ends up approving this," Gerben explained. Gerben added that once the team leans into the marketing in Las Vegas, it will be easier to get the trademark, saying it was slightly ironic that the team has been attempting to shy away from positioning themselves as the Las Vegas Athletics by not attaching themselves to a city yet. The Athletics played the 2025 season in Sacramento and will do so again in 2026. ...read more read less