Three-Peat Trademark - The Long Game

This article from the NY Times by Adeel Hassan really summarizes coach Pat Rileys summarizes a possibly accidental way to get some future licensing rights. However, we are surprised the USPTO has not issued these trademarks an audit for non use of individual items.

Feb. 8, 2025

The Kansas City Chiefs are aiming to win their third consecutive Super Bowl on Sunday and become the first team to pull off a Super Bowl “three-peat.”

They need to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles, of course. If they do, and they want to celebrate with caps and T-shirts emblazoned with “three-peat,” they need to come to an agreement with Pat Riley, the person who owns the trademark to that expression.

That’s because Riley, once the head coach of the N.B.A.’s Los Angeles Lakers, strongly believed that his team would win three consecutive championships in 1987, 1988 and 1989.

His team won two consecutive championships before he registered various forms of “three-peat” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. His applications were approved, but then the Lakers lost in the 1989 N.B.A. Finals.

He had another chance for his own “three-peat” when he coached the Miami Heat to championships in 2012 and 2013, but the Heat lost in the N.B.A. Finals in 2014.

While he never got to personally use “three-peat,” Riley still owns the commercial rights to the phrase. According to the patent and trademark office, his registrations cover the use of “three-peat” on hats, jackets, shirts, energy drinks, flavored waters, computer bags, sunglasses, backpacks, bumper stickers, decals, posters, mugs and more.

To qualify as trademarks, the words must be found to be distinctive. The registrations give their owners protection against others who want to stamp, sew or print those words on merchandise and profit from it.

Riley earned licensing fees when another N.B.A. team, the Chicago Bulls, completed two three-peats in the 1990s; when the New York Yankees won three straight World Series in 1998, 1999 and 2000; and when the Lakers won N.B.A. championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

Most of the money — modest sums that are calculated on the wholesale price of an item — has been given to charities, Riley has said.