The Los Angeles Kings date back to 1966. They began as a National Hockey League (NHL) expansion team awarded to LA-based entrepreneur Jack Kent Cook (who owned the Los Angeles Lakers). The Los Angeles Kings played their debut games at the Long Beach Arena while awaiting their home arena’s construction (The Forum in Inglewood, California).
The Kings played their first game at Inglewood in December of 1967, resulting in a 2-0 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. The first-ever game played by the Kings was in October of the same year – the King defeated the Flyers at 4-2 in front of over 7,000 people. They also played around a dozen games at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena while they waited for the completion of the Forum. Following their first game at the Forum in December of 1967, they would play 32 seasons there before relocating to downtown Los Angeles to play at the Crypto.com Arena in 1999.
Throughout the 70s and 80s, the Los Angeles Kings Hockey Club had many impressive seasons that fell short of playoffs. After being eliminated from the first round of the playoffs between 1973 and 1975, the Kings decided to upgrade their offensive weapons when they acquired center Marcel Dionne, an ex-Detroit Red Wings player. Alongside Dionne’s offensive tactics, the goaltending of Rogie Vachon, and the firepower of Butch Goring, the Kings played two excellent seasons back to back with playoff matches against the Atlanta Flames and Boston Bruins in the second, though Boston eliminated them.
After that, Marcel was paired with Charlie Simmer and Dave Taylor in a combination that would become known as the Triple Crown Line, which is the highest-scoring line combination in NHL history.
Due to never-ending feuds with Jack Kent Cook, Bob Pulford left the Kings after the 1976 season. General Manager Jake Milford would soon follow, and the team was struggling again, with the Kings finishing below 500 and being taken out of the first round by the Maple Leafs.
In 1988, the Kings secured Wayne Gretzky by trading Edmonton Oilers, which turned out to be an excellent decision for the franchise, leading to an overall boost to hockey in Los Angeles. Defenseman Rob Blake, alongside Hall of Famer Luc Robitaille and Gretzky, led the Kings to a sole division title in 1990 and the Kings’ first shot at the Stanley Cup Final in 1993 (which was lost to the Montreal Canadiens).
Following the 1993 final loss, the Kings encountered financial issues, including a bankruptcy filing in 1995 that was finally solved when Phillip Anschutz (owner of Anschutz Entertainment) acquired the team alongside Edward Roski. Despite the acquisition, they were forced into trading many of their stronger players. Most significantly, Gretzky demanded a trade to a legitimate Stanley Cup contender and was dealt to the St. Louis Blues in 1996.
In 1999 the Kings left the forum after 32 seasons, moving to the Staples Center in downtown LA. The Staples Center is a state-of-the-art luxury arena with modern amenities and luxury suites.
With a new home, Coach (Andy Murray), 50-goal scorer, and players such as Murray, Blake, and Stumpel, the Kings improved dramatically, finishing the 1999-2000 season with 95 points, earning second place in the Pacific division. But in the 2000 playoffs, the Kings were again ousted in the first round by the Detroit Red Wings.
While they staved off a crisis, a period of mediocre strife ensued until 2009-10, when they broke a long-running playoff drought with a team that included Jonathan Quick, Drew Doughty, Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar, and Justin Williams. Things looked up further after Darryl Sutter led the Kings to win two Stanley Cups in 2012 (against the New Jersey Devils) and 2014 (against the New York Rangers).
Famous Los Angeles Kings trademarks
The LA Kings initially wore gold and purple uniforms – similar to the LA Lakers – but with a more detailed logo depicting a crown. The logos and words were registered as trademarks despite a rebrand coming later. The dozen-trademark portfolio could be better, but we’ll walk through their trademarks and explore recent trademark filings.
Kings
The first trademark filing submitted by this NHL team was the wordmark ‘Kings,’ registered in 1967 for use in:
- Entertainment services, precisely, entertainment services related to professional ice hockey exhibitions
- Sweaters, jerseys, shirts, T-shirts, scarves, wristbands, sweatshirts, and other articles of clothing
Los Angeles Kings logo (1971)
The first logo registered by the LA Kings consists of stylized writing ‘Los Angeles’ above a bold font spelling ‘Kings’ situated above a coronet. After its first use in 1967, it was registered in 1971 for use in:
- Entertainment services, namely, entertainment services related to professional ice hockey exhibitions
- Sweaters, jerseys, shirts, T-shirts, scarves, wristbands, sweatshirts, and other articles of clothing
LA Kings logo (2000)
The 2000 version of the LA Kings logo includes a lion, coronet, and sun in a crossed sword design on a shield, beneath a banner inscribed with “LA Kings”. Most often seen on marketing materials and team merchandise, this logo was registered in 2000 for use in:
- Entertainment services, namely, entertainment services related to professional ice hockey exhibitions
- Hats, caps, jeans, jerseys, jackets, bibs, mitts, scarves, wristbands, sweatshirts, and other articles of clothing
Frozen Fury
Frozen Fury is a pre-season ice hockey game between the Vegas Golden Knights and the LA Kings, held in Salt Lake City but previously held between the Colorado Avalanche and Kings from 1997-to 2016. The game is held annually. The trademark was registered in 1997 for:
- Goods and services including T-shirts, hats, and other articles of clothing
- Hockey pucks, toys, sporting goods, and more
- Professional ice hockey games and exhibitions
LA logo
The LA logo is still used today and consists of the stylized letters “LA” in a box with a king’s coronet in a downward triangle. It was first registered in 2009 following its first use in 2008 and is registered for use in:
- Clothing, namely, bandannas, boxer shorts, caps, cloth bibs, coats, footwear, ear muffs, gloves, hats, headbands, jackets, jerseys, leggings, mittens, nightshirts, pajamas, pants, rainwear, robes, scarves, shirts, shorts, sun visors, sweaters, sweatpants, swim trunks, T-shirts, ties, toques, underwear, wristbands
- Entertainment services, namely, ice hockey exhibitions
Learn more: How to trademark a logo
Ice side
In 2021, the LA Kings filed an application to trademark the word mark “Ice side” the trademark is still currently pending, which means it hasn’t been approved yet, but if approved, it’s expected to apply to:
- Entertainment services, namely, professional ice hockey games and exhibitions
Wrapping up
If you want to protect your intellectual property, you should consider registering any distinctive brand materials with the USPTO in the form of a registered trademark. It can save you a world of worry and – in some cases – millions of dollars. The Los Angeles Kings franchise is worth over a billion dollars, meaning that they stand to lose a lot in a trademark dispute. Despite this, they have only a few trademarks, with 11 registered trademarks and one registered application.
