The Washington Commanders Used A Very Sneaky Trademark Strategy To Keep Their New Name Under Wraps

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• The Washington Commanders deployed an interesting strategy to keep their new name under wraps
• New records show the team filed its initial trademark in Trinidad and Tobago in August of 2021
• Read more NFL news here

In the summer of 2020, Dan Snyder caved to decades of public pressure by retiring the “Redskins” moniker in favor of the “Washington Football Team,” which served as the franchise’s placeholder for two seasons until the world was officially introduced to the Commanders last week.

Prior to the announcement, there’d been an incredible amount of speculation over which name the team would ultimately adopt. Internet sleuths dug up a number of potential clues in the form of website redirects and records plucked from the archives at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but the team did a pretty good job keeping its new identity under wraps when everything was said and done.

Now, we have a better idea of exactly how it managed to do so courtesy of trademark attorney Josh Gerben, who did some digging of his own and discovered the fairly unconventional legal strategy the franchise deployed to keep amateur detectives off the scent.

On Monday, Gerben called attention to a recent filing that showed the organization originally laid claim to the “Commanders” trademark on August 6, 2021…and did so in Trinidad and Tobago.

As Gerben noted when he discussed this possibility earlier this year, if the paperwork had been submitted in the United States, the Commanders trademark would’ve become public knowledge five days after it was processed.

However, by taking advantage of the Paris Convention, the team was not only able to prevent that from happening but put also itself in a position to successfully challenge any claims filed after August 6th.

Well played, Commanders. Well played.