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After decades in Oakland, the Athletics baseball franchise has ambitious plans to relocate to Las Vegas. Relocations are never easy, and the A’s have faced their share of setbacks. The latest – the U.S. government says they can’t actually get a trademark for the name Las Vegas Athletics. NPR’s Rafael Nam has the story.

RAFAEL NAM, BYLINE: The Athletics have existed since 1901, first in Philadelphia, then in Kansas City, and most recently in Oakland. So with the Athletics set to move to Sin City in 2028, getting a trademark as the Las Vegas Athletics seemed easy enough. Who doesn’t know the Athletics?

JOSH GERBEN: I’m a child of the ’80s. I grew up in the ’80s. I – you know, the Oakland Athletics. All you have to do is mention the term Athletics, and I know exactly what you’re talking about.

NAM: That’s Josh Gerben. He would know, he’s a huge baseball fan, but he’s also a trademark attorney. But in a surprise, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office weighed in – application rejected. The reason – the Las Vegas Athletics is just not a distinctive enough name, like, say, the Las Vegas Raiders, an NFL team that also relocated to Sin City, having also once played in Oakland, as it turns out. Gerben says he now gets it.

GERBEN: It just so happens this is kind of an odd trademark.

NAM: That’s because the word athletics could be used in a generic context, like the Las Vegas Athletics Complex, for example, or the Las Vegas Athletics Association, according to Gerben.

GERBEN: It’s an odd name for a team to just call them the Athletics when they’re a bunch of athletes. And so, because it’s on that weaker end of the spectrum, they’re going to have a harder time getting the trademark registered.

NAM: The Patent Office is trying to answer a big question.

GERBEN: Is it appropriate to give a monopoly on this general term to Major League Baseball and the Athletics? And that’s ultimately the decision the government has to make.

NAM: But it’s not over yet for the Athletics. The rejection is essentially provisional. Right now, they’re known as just the Athletics and playing in a minor league ballpark in Sacramento. But they now need work at gaining an identity as the Las Vegas Athletics by selling merchandise or putting out ads, like when they were the Oakland Athletics and were known as the franchise that helped introduce moneyball-type baseball analytics, and most recently for breaking hearts all over Oakland. Gerben is confident the team will get their trademark.

GERBEN: So they’ve got time. I think they’re going to – you know, they’ve got pretty good lawyers. I think they’re going to be able to figure this one out.

NAM: And once they do, after four seasons with a losing record, just maybe the Athletics will also figure out how to start winning again. Rafael Nam, NPR News.

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