The Miami Heat sent shockwaves of speculation and excitement through South Florida with their recent trademark filing for a new “Heat” wordmark—a mark heavily influenced by the fan-favorite “Vice” theme. This new wordmark, which features “Heat” in the iconic, neon-style script used by the Vice jerseys since their debut in the 2017–18 season, has led fans and trademark attorneys alike to wonder if this move is simply routine intellectual property protection or a sign of a more permanent shift in the team’s branding and future look.

The organization filed their original trademark application on August 27, 2025. This filing marked the first time the team has officially trademarked a “Heat” version of the Vice lettering, as the Heat’s previous five Vice-themed “City Edition” uniforms had all featured “Miami” on the jersey chest. The city’s love for the Vice uniforms is well-documented and longstanding—the original “Vice” uniform, which draws its inspiration from the neon signage at the former Miami Arena, was even so popular that it was brought back to replace both the Heat’s white “Association Edition” and blood red “Culture” City Edition uniforms for the last stretch of the 2024–25 season. The wild popularity of the Vice uniforms combined with the new trademark filing are the strongest indicators yet that the Heat might be considering a full rebrand, choosing to integrate the Vice aesthetic into their core identity in an attempt to capitalize on fan demand. These rumors were further fueled by a second application on September 9, 2025, this time using the Vice colorway—highlighting the Heat’s efforts to make these colors an even larger part of their brand.

While a rebrand is indeed a possibility, it’s equally important to note that teams will often apply for trademarks as an anticipatory measure to protect their organizational intellectual property. This new wordmark could be used for a variety of purposes: for merchandise, a long-term branding strategy, or merely to prevent other users from profiting off of the team’s incredibly popular design. No matter what, it’s clear this filing goes beyond a hint at a future jersey and is instead a calculated legal step to secure (and potentially expand) one of the franchise’s most valuable assets.

The Filing: An “Intent-to-Use” Application

The Heat’s trademark application was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), presumably using what is known as an “Intent-to-Use” (ITU) application under the Lanham Act’s Section 1(b). This is a crucial step to securing trademark protection, as an ITU application allows a party to place a trademark on reserve based on a sincere good faith intention to use it in commerce in the near future. Effectively, the filer is putting a hold on the mark so other users do not get to use it or register it as the ITU applicant completes their business plans for their intellectual property.

For the Heat, this allows them to not have to rush the release of a product featuring their new wordmark in the near future because the filing in itself is a declaration of their plans and gives them an early date of rights against future applicants. For the trademark to achieve full registration in the future, the Heat will ultimately have to prove “use in commerce,” which is done by selling goods like jerseys and merchandise bearing the mark.

A Two-Pronged Strategy: Protect the Brand While Pushing Commercial Expansion

From a legal perspective, the Heat’s trademark application serves both defensive and offensive functions in terms of the team’s brand strategy. Defensively, the Heat are protecting their brand equity. The “Vice” campaign has been a commercial juggernaut for the organization, creating an immense amount of brand equity. Generally speaking, the fundamental legal purpose of a trademark is to act as a source identifier protecting against consumer confusion. By filing for the “Heat” Vice wordmark, the organization is bolstering the tools they have at hand in their legal arsenal against unlicensed merchandise and counterfeiters. The application filing expands the team’s protected intellectual property, which will make it easier to issue cease-and-desist letters and pursue litigation against infringers of their popular aesthetic in the future—proactively fencing in their brand and protecting the revenue streams generated by it. The recent filing of a second application is similarly vital, since whenever a mark is altered, a new trademark must be filed to document the adjustments. Here, the Heat seem to be working diligently to protect their Vice marks, including any updates as they continue to develop this aspect of their team branding.

On the offensive end, the Heat are also paving the way for a potential future rebrand. As mentioned above, while the previous “Miami” Vice wordmarks are all protected, this is the first time the Heat name itself has been seen in the Vice script. Securing this trademark will be a critical first step before the wordmark could ever appear on an official NBA “Icon” or “Association” edition jersey, potentially signaling a full team rebrand. Without having this registered trademark, any such move would leave a core piece of the team’s new identity in legal jeopardy.

A Look at the Heat’s Other Marks

The Miami Heat Limited Partnership owns a wide variety of trademarks, which include the original “Miami” Vice wordmark, the standard “HEAT” mark used since 1999, “HEAT CULTURE” and “EL HEAT CULTURA,” “COURT CULTURE,” the number 35, and the full post-1999 Ball and Hoop logo with “MIAMI HEAT” beneath it, among many others.

Pat Riley, the “Trademark King”

Beyond trademarks owned by the Heat, team President Pat Riley is famous in his own right for his intellectual property endeavors. Riley notoriously owns the trademark for the phrase “three-peat,” a term he began using in the late 1980s while he coached several incredible Los Angeles Lakers teams. Riley’s company, Riles & Company, Inc., owns at least six live trademarks for variations of the phrase, allowing him to cover a wide variety of merchandise.

Famously, Riley also has a history of licensing the “three-peat” trademark to teams on the cusp of winning their third straight championship, mandating that a portion of the proceeds often go to charity. Savvy business moves like this one have led him to be viewed as a sort of “trademark king,” a testament to Riley’s sharp understanding of intellectual property and branding extending far beyond the basketball court.

Whether the new “Heat” wordmark is a sign of a full-on reshuffling of the team identity or simply a smart business move, one thing is for certain: both the Miami Heat and their executive leadership are always looking for ways to innovate and stay ahead of the curve—both on and off of the court.

Oliver Canning is a 3L at the University of Miami School of Law. He can be followed on Twitter (X) @OCanning and found on LinkedIn.