The WNBA plans to revive the historic Houston Comets franchise in 2027, but the league is locked in a federal trademark dispute with a mysterious company that might threaten its ability to use the Comets name.The Houston Comets were one of the WNBA’s original eight franchises and won the league’s first four championships before folding in 2008. On March 30, a group led by billionaire Tilman Fertitta, who owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets, announced it had agreed to buy the Connecticut Sun and relocate the team to Houston. The deal is pending final approval from the WNBA Board of Governors.In early 2025, close to the same time the Rockets’ ownership group formally submitted a bid for an expansion team, the WNBA applied to trademark the Houston Comets name but found it had been beaten to the punch by a business with no apparent ties to professional basketball.The other company is a Delaware limited liability company called TSTM Holdings, which submitted its trademark registration application in 2024.
The WNBA, which allowed its Houston Comets trademark to lapse in 2021, is opposing TSTM's application in the federal trademark office.The WNBA did not respond to requests for comment. Multiple trademark law experts told USA TODAY that while these types of disputes are not uncommon, it could develop into a major headache for the WNBA if TSTM Holdings is granted registration for the Comets name. The WNBA is already having trouble reclaiming trademarks for the Cleveland Rockers and Detroit Shock, two of its other former franchises.
The league granted expansion teams to Cleveland and Detroit scheduled to begin play in 2028 and 2029, respectively, but was denied trademark registration for the Detroit Shock and is facing opposition for the Cleveland Rockers registration. Both names are registered to the Women's Basketball League, a startup pro league that has yet to tip off. The difference with Houston's situation is while Cleveland and Detroit did not publicly commit to reviving their old team names, Houston announced its plans to return as the Comets.“My family and I are thrilled for the opportunity to bring the Houston Comets back to this incredible city,” Rockets Alternate Governor Patrick Fertitta said in a March 30 news release.
“We believe the time is right to begin the next great era of Comets basketball, and we look forward to working with the WNBA as we move through this process.”Whether the WNBA can get the Comets name back will depend on the answers to a few key questions, said Mark McKenna, a UCLA law professor and expert in trademark law. Did the WNBA abandon the Comets mark, or did the league continue to market merchandise for the team? Does TSTM Holdings intend to use the Comets name or is it angling for a payout?“If you take for granted that the WNBA abandoned its prior rights so it’s not able to overcome these applications, and then those actually turn into registrations because that company (TSTM Holdings) does in fact make use, then they’re going to have priority and they’re going to be able to block the WNBA from using that name at all,” McKenna said.
“But there’s a bunch of ifs in that statement, right?”Kia Kamran, the Los Angeles attorney representing TSTM Holdings in its trademark application, declined to answer USA TODAY’s emailed questions about the company or its motives.“We do not comment on ongoing litigation matters,” Kamran wrote.What’s at stake for the WNBA and Houston Comets returnOnce approved, trademark registrations must be renewed every 10 years to remain active. The WNBA held registrations for several Comets trademarks throughout the team’s first run of existence from 1997-2008 and continued to renew most up until 2021. When the league let its last registration expire, it left the door open for another entity to take it.Documents filed with the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) show that TSTM Holdings applied on May 17, 2024 to register the wordmark “Houston Comets” for intended use in clothing, decals, sporting goods, digital media and “entertainment in the nature of live basketball games.” WNBA Enterprises filed its own overlapping trademark application on Feb. 3, 2025 and filed its notice of opposition against TSTM Holdings on May 27, 2025.Rebecca Tushnet, a professor at Harvard Law School who formerly practiced intellectual property law, said the issue is not just who applied for registration earlier, but also who used the mark first in commerce. Even if a registration expires or is canceled, the original owner can maintain what is called “common law rights” by continuing to use the mark.“Registration is not necessary to have rights, use is necessary to have rights,” Tushnet said.
“So whether or not the registration lapsed is not super important. What I’d want to know is what, if anything, the WNBA continued to do with the mark.”The WNBA still sells Comets jerseys in its online store. In its opposition filing, an attorney for the WNBA argues the league retained common law