Professional American baseball team, the Los Angeles Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division.
Often known as simply the “Angels”, the franchise was founded in 1961 in Los Angeles by Gene Autry – an American actor, singer, composer, and musician known as the “Singing Cowboy”. The Angels were set up as one of the MLB’s first two expansion teams (alongside the second incarnation of the Washington Senators), making them the first to originate in California. The team is based in the metropolitan area of Los Angeles and has played its home games at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California since 1966.
The franchise has had several locations and name changes throughout its time. Known originally as the “Los Angeles Angels” – derived from a Pacific Coast League (PCL) team which is said to have got its name from the English translation of “Los Angeles” which means “The Angels” in Spanish. They moved to Anaheim in 1966 and become known as the “California Angels” until 1997 when they changed to the “Anaheim Angels”. They tried changing their name back to the “Los Angeles Angels” in 2005, but a lease agreement with Anaheim meant that the city name was required to be in the franchise name. The team then become known as the “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim” until 2015 when they were able to revert back to the “Los Angeles Angels”, which they are currently known as today.
The Angels are quite a successful baseball team. They particularly grew in popularity after winning the World Series in 2002 despite it being their sole appearance – becoming one of just three MLB franchises to do so. This championship win led to a period of success. The Angels made six playoff berths, fan attendance increased and they were consistently among the top franchise draws in the MLB. They quickly rose to success in 2012 with the acquisition of outfielder, Mike Trout – a three-time AL Most Valuable Player, who garnered the team a national following. Similarly, the signing of Japanese player, Shohei Ohtani in 2018 led to an international following.
The Angels are known for their fan base. They have some of the highest attendance records with an average of 40,000 fans at each game. The franchise has set six Guinness World Records for the largest gatherings of people wearing humorous clothing such as cowboy hats, superhero capes, etc. In 2009, the Los Angeles Angels were voted as the number one franchise in professional sports in Fan Value by ESPN magazine, and in 2012 were voted by ESPN and fan polls as the fifteenth-best sports franchise, third best among MLB teams.
Famous Los Angeles Angels Trademarks
The Los Angeles Angels are a successful baseball team – both on-field and off-field. It appears that the team knows what they’re doing in terms of marketing and creating a great fan following. This is also evident in the number of trademarks they’ve registered with USPTO. The franchise has a whopping 54 trademarks to its name, clearly showing they understand and appreciate protecting its IP and assets. Let’s take a look at some of the most famous Los Angeles Angels trademarks, registered by Angels Baseball LP.
“A” logo
The first thing the Los Angeles Angels registered for a trademark was their team logo. The franchise has had several logos over its time with moving location and changing its name, however, it didn’t trademark its first logo until 1983 when they were known as the California Angels. Though the logo only featured a capital “A” with a halo around the top of it, rather than having the full team name. Despite this being trademarked, the team logo used from 1986 was actually a little different – featuring the “A” with a halo around the top sat inside a baseball with red stitching and a black silhouette of the state of California, though this was not trademarked. However, the basic version of the trademark was registered in 1983 and applies to:
- Baseball caps
- Key tags, key chains, and license plate frames
- Electric souvenir lamps
- Costume jewelry and jewelry, namely, pendants and pins
- Baseball scorebooks, guidebooks, magazines, brochures, programs, trading cards and decals, ballpoint pens, and bumper stickers
- Cushions, display boards (with team badges for attaching thereto magnetically for maintaining day-to-day standings of major league baseball teams); baseball-oriented novelties – namely, miniature souvenir batting helmets, helmet-shaped banks, miniature baseball bats, statuettes and ornamental novelty buttons
- Plastic cups, mugs, drinking cups, wastebaskets for domestic use, and paper cups
- Towels and cloth pennants
- Shirts, T-shirts, shorts, sweaters, sweatshirts, wristbands, bibs, and jackets
- Ornamental novelty pins not of precious metal, embroidered patches for clothing, and self-adhesive and thermo-sticking decorative cloth patches
- Batting helmets, stuffed animal toys, batting gloves, and baseballs
Related: Trademarking a logo
The Big A
The “Big A” is a sign situated in the parking lot of Angel Stadium that stands 230-foot-tall and weighs 210 tons. The red metal sign was installed in 1966 (originally behind the left field fence before being moved to the parking lot in 1979) and is constructed in the shape of the letter “A”. Just like the Angels’ logo, it features a light that surrounds the top of the A to look like a halo. This halo lights up every time the Angels win – at home or away. 1970s broadcaster Dick Enberg used to comment, “and the halo shines tonight!” whenever the Angels won. This metal sign is behind the nickname “The Big A” for Angel Stadium. This character mark was registered in 2008 and applies to:
- Clothing, namely, caps, hats, knitted headwear, shirts, T-shirts, sweatshirts, and infant wear
- Entertainment services in the nature of baseball exhibitions; providing facilities for sports events, tournaments, competitions, and entertainment, including providing such events for public exhibition and television and radio broadcast and other media distribution, and providing other customary stadium services, namely, rental of stadium facilities and providing facilities for stadium tours and concerts; entertainment services in the nature of displays of baseball, baseball games, baseball exhibitions, and baseball history
- Advertising and advertising services, namely, electronic billboard advertising
- License plate holders
- Non-metal key chains
- Toys and sporting goods, namely, stuffed toys, plush toys, soft sculpture foam toys, foam novelty items, namely, foam fingers, jigsaw and manipulative puzzles, toy figures, dolls, bobbing head dolls, miniature baseball bats, mini batting helmet replicas, miniature toy baseballs, baseballs, baseball bats
- Telecommunication services, namely, audio broadcasting, television broadcasting, subscription television broadcasting, cable television broadcasting, video broadcasting, satellite television broadcasting, and radio broadcasting; communication services, namely, audio, video, and audio-visual broadcasting services
Angels
Despite being called the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at this point, the franchise registered simply “Angels” as a trademark. The team has always had “Angels” in its team name in some form, so perhaps their marketing team thought it would be worth trademarking the nickname in case they changed the name again (they did!). This illustration features the word “Angels” in a stylized form with a halo over the top part of the letter “A”. This trademark was registered in 2007 and applies to:
- Clothing, namely, caps, hats, shirts, T-shirts, baseball uniforms, jerseys, socks, hosiery, jackets
- Athletic bags, overnight bags, backpacks, duffel bags, tote bags, beach bags, knapsacks, purses, handbags, wallets, billfolds, business card cases, luggage tags, dog collars, and dog leashes
- Electrical and scientific apparatus, namely, pre-recorded predominately non-musical, videodiscs and audio discs relating to baseball; cell phone accessories, namely, cases and face plate covers; photographic cameras; electric switch plate covers; decorative magnets; protective helmets, catcher’s helmets; video and computer game cartridges, video and computer game discs, video and computer game cassettes, and video game controllers; computer game programs, and computer game application programs downloadable from a global computer network in the field of baseball
- Jewelry, namely, bracelets, charms, earrings, necklaces, pendants, watches, wall clocks, costume jewelry, rubber or silicone bracelets and wristbands, ornamental metal pins, lapel pins, tie fasteners, cuff links, tie tacks, tie pins, metal key chains of precious metal, metal key rings of precious metal, clocks, and non-monetary coins of precious metal
Rally Monkey
The Rally Monkey was introduced to the Angels’ fanbase in 2000. After playing a clip from Ace Venture: Pet Detective on the scoreboard, the Angels managed to rally to win the game. The popularity of the clip led the franchise to hire a white-haired capuchin monkey named Katie who was featured in original clips to help rally the team. This includes showing the monkey holding a sign saying “RALLY TIME” and jumping up and down to the House of Pain song, “Jump Around”. Since then, the Rally Monkey has become a mascot for the Angels, appearing if they’re losing, or if the game is tied from the 7th inning on. The mascot garnered worldwide attention during the 2022 World Series where the Angels played against the San Francisco Giants. Despite being 5-0 down as the game entered the bottom of the 7th inning, the Rally Monkey was shown for fan support which led the Angels to score six unanswered runs, winning the game and ultimately clinching the championship in Game 7. The character mark for “Rally Monkey” was registered for a trademark in 2015 and applies to:
- Clothing, namely, headwear, shirts
- Toys and sporting goods, namely, stuffed toys, plush toys, soft sculpture foam toys, foam novelty items, namely, foam fingers, board games, card games, parlor games, toy cars, puzzles, toy figures, toy vehicles, dolls, and doll accessories, bobbing head dolls, miniature baseball bats, mini batting helmet replicas, baseballs, holders for baseballs, golf balls, golf club head covers, golf club bags, baseball bats, costume masks, Christmas tree ornaments and decorations, action figures, balls for games, gaming equipment, namely, poker chips
Halo Honk
“Halo Honk” refers to a marketing campaign run by AM830 radio. Rodger Lodge – nationally recognized as television’s Blind Date host is AM830’s head “Halo Honk” and is the KLAA voice for everything Angels. They have merchandise and run events referencing the “Halo Honk”. The slogan is one of the Angels’ most recent trademarks – registered in 2016 and applies to:
- Clothing, namely, shirts, athletic uniforms, jerseys
- Entertainment services, namely, baseball exhibitions, organizing and conducting an array of athletic events rendered live or recorded for distribution through broadcast media; entertainment services, namely, conducting contests, and sweepstakes; production and provision of ongoing Internet and radio programs in the field of sports; providing news, information, podcasts, webcasts, all of the foregoing in the field of sports; organizing community sporting and cultural events; fan clubs, and festivals featuring a variety of sports and entertainment activities
Wrapping up
The Los Angeles Angels are a successful baseball team. They’ve won one World Series, have made several playoffs, and are known for their incredible fan support. This success on-pitch is reflected off-pitch with the number of trademarks they have to their name.
The franchise has successfully registered over 54 trademarks. As a team that’s changed name several times, they’ve done a good job of registering trademarks with each team name, as well as other key assets like team nicknames, logos, and team emblems. They’ve also registered popular slogans, the stadium nickname, and their team mascot, Rally Monkey, ensuring they’ve covered all bases. This will save them a lot of money, time, and headaches in potential future legal disputes. As a team that’s worth $2.2 billion, it’s definitely been worth doing!
