Jets’ Gotham City Trademark Sacked, No Batman to Save the Day

As a Jets fan living in New Jersey, I should have known better than to hope for a calm start to training camp. The first two days were chaos. On Day 2, quarterback Justin Fields limped off the field, and within minutes, ESPN’s Adam Schefter sent out a tweet suggesting Fields might have torn his Achilles. For the next two hours, the entire New York media was in a frenzy, speculating on who the Jets’ next quarterback might be, and how this franchise could possibly be this unlucky. First Aaron Rodgers, and now Fields? Two quarterbacks with so much hope out for the year before the season even started. Luckily, a sigh of relief came when head coach Aaron Glenn announced after practice that Fields only dislocated his toe. Crisis averted, at least on the field.

While Jets fans could breathe again, I’m not sure the team’s marketing and legal departments felt the same way.  The Jets unveiled their revamped locker room at their training facility in Florham Park, NJ and it is everything a player could hope for and more. They have customized lockers, a new sauna, and even a full barbershop. Yet the biggest talking point was not the upgraded facilities, it was the phrase “Gotham City Football,” styled in bold green lettering above every player’s locker. After the phrase was featured as the new brand strategy for the Jets, the team may not be able to secure a trademark registration for it. Unlike the Fields injury scare, this one is not an overreaction.

The Jets filed a trademark for the phrase “GOTHAM CITY FOOTBALL” May 2024. A registered trademark would give the team legal protection and exclusive rights to use the name on clothing, namely, shirts, t-shirts, tops, sweatshirts, hooded sweatshirts, caps, and hats.  When an entity applies for a trademark, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reviews the trademark application to see if it meets all the legal requirements. If they find certain problems with the application, they will issue a trademark refusal. A trademark refusal (or office action) is a legal explanation as to why your application cannot move forward unless you fix the issue. A final trademark refusal (or final office action) means the USPTO did not accept your response to the first refusal and is now officially rejecting the application. At this point, you would typically need to appeal the decision to a board called the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) if you want to keep fighting for your trademark.

Unfortunately, on June 12, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a final refusal. The two key reasons for the refusal were geographic descriptiveness and the likelihood of confusion.

Geographic descriptiveness is a type of trademark infringement where a name describes the origin or location of the goods or services. For example, a city, state, or region cannot be registered as a trademark on its own. The USPTO does not want one business to have exclusive rights to a place name that others may fairly use. An example of this would be “CHICAGO PIZZA.” A trademark is meant to distinguish one brand from another, so if a brand name only tells you where the product comes from and what it is then the mark may be rejected for being too generic. A generic name lacks the uniqueness required for trademark protection.

Unfortunately for the Jets, the USPTO claimed that Gotham City is a known term for New York City. While the Jets argued that “Gotham City” is tied to the Batman franchise and is more fictional than factual, the examining attorney thought otherwise. The examiner pointed to a magazine where the author used the term to describe New York City in 1807. Due to this fact, the USPTO ruled that “GOTHAM CITY FOOTBALL” describes a geographic region, which generally is not eligible for trademark protection.

In my opinion, this argument feels like a bit of a stretch. While “Gotham” is the name of the fictional city in Batman, it was originally inspired by New York City. Relying on a 200-year-old reference to claim that the term is geographically descriptive seems like a reach. Today, “Gotham” is far more commonly associated with the Batman universe than with New York itself. If anything, nicknames like “THE BIG APPLE” are much more widely recognized as referring to the city. The geographic connection becomes even more questionable when you consider the Jets' actual location. Although they fall within the New York media market, their practice facility is in Florham Park, New Jersey, and they play their home games at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. At no point do the Jets physically operate within the state of New York.

Even if the USPTO agreed with the Jets that "Gotham City" is not geographically descriptive, there’s still another hurdle to overcome, likelihood of confusion. This is the most common trademark infringement. A likelihood of confusion means there is a probability that consumers would be confused by similar marks. In this case, the Jets’ application conflicts with two existing registrations, one from a popular Jets fan club called the “GOTHAM CITY CREW”, and another from “NJ/NY GOTHAM FC” of the National Women’s Soccer League. Both entities already hold registered trademarks. The USPTO argued that consumers might assume the Jets’ merchandise is affiliated with the fan club. On top of that, NJ/NY Gotham FC already owns a trademark registration for apparel, which is the same class the Jets are applying under. So even if the team clears the geographic hurdle, they will still need to overcome the likelihood of confusion before their mark can move forward.

For the Jets, facing a likelihood of confusion refusal like this is unfortunate but avoidable. Filing a trademark costs next to nothing for an NFL team, and they could have secured rights to “Gotham City Football” long before rolling it out across their branding. It is mind blowing that a fan club beat them to the punch, but that is the reality of trademark law. The USPTO does not care how famous you are, if someone else filed first your application will get refused. What makes this worse is that the Jets’ practice facility is only a few miles from NJ/NY Gotham FC’s headquarters. They could have created an agreement where both teams could have ownership of Gotham City apparel. With the proper trademark training these likelihood of confusion obstacles could have been avoided.

The Jets might have one Hail Mary before appealing to the TTAB. Within the time frame for the nonfinal notice till the deadline to appeal the TTAB can request for reconsideration. According to the Final Office Action this could be done by submitting evidence for Amendment to Claim Acquired Distinctiveness under Section 2(f).

To show proof under, Amendment to Claim Acquired Distinctiveness under Section 2(f) the Jets need to submit evidence where the mark has become distinctive of the goods and/or services through the applicant’s substantially exclusive and continuous use of the mark in commerce that the U.S. Congress may lawfully regulate for at least five years immediately before the date of this statement. They might be able to show this because back in 1963, the then-New York Titans were acquired for $1 million by Gotham Football Club Inc., and as stated before they referred to their jerseys in 2019 as Gotham Green.

If the reconsideration does not work, then their last resort is to appeal to the TTAB. The TTAB which would allow a panel of judges to review the decision. After that they do not lose the right to use the phrase, but without a federal trademark registration, they do not have strong legal protection. If another company, or even a fan group started selling gear using that phrase, the Jets would have a much harder time stopping them. They would not have access to certain legal benefits, like nationwide protection.

Unfortunately, across all sports, these trademark stumbles keep happening. Professional sports teams do not do a good job filing a trademark or doing their research. For example, when Cleveland’s MLB team rebranded from the “Indians” to the “Guardians” in 2021, they forgot to check, a local roller derby team had the same name. Also, Utah’s Hockey trying to file “UTAH YETI” which was ultimately rejected, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had their trademark filing for “BUCS” refused by the USPTO. No matter the sport, professional teams keep showing that they are not on top of prioritizing trademark filings for their team. At the end of the day, sports franchises are businesses, and they need to treat trademark protection like a business priority. It is not just about legal rights; it is about being able to market confidently without risking rebrands, delays, or public embarrassment.

At the end of the day, this case is a great example of how tricky trademark law can be, even for a major professional sports team. It also shows that branding is not just about cool slogans and new locker room designs. It is about securing legal rights to those brand elements so they can be used to grow, protect, and monetize the franchise. If the Jets want to keep building out “GOTHAM CITY FOOTBALL” as a legitimate identity, they will need to find a way through appeal or creative rebranding.