League Name Rights

[kahunakats]

Just out of curiosity, who owns the rights to the names and or logos from the CBA and the old USBL?

[nksports]

The USBL is still an operating entity (USBL.OB). They just haven't been active for a few years now. I think the CBA considers itself suspended, not folded, but they aren't doing anything.

Sorry, I don't think you can steal their names quite yet.

[kahunakats]

...but who owns the names? Just because the USBL considers themselves still viable, somebody has to be named as "owner" or some other title to keep it alive on the books. We've had this discussion with Joe supposedly "owning" the rights to the ABA name when in reality he probably doesn't. What prevents someone from calling themselves the American Basketball League IF nobody owns the rights to the name? Supposedly, I have heard, the Albany Patroons own the rights to the CBA name and logo but who owns other defunct league names and logos?

[nksports]

The USBL name is owned by the United States Basketball League Inc., a publicly traded company with the Meisenheimer family as the primary stockholders. You can buy a share for 25 cents. This company has owned the name ever since it started. It originally was privately owned, but went public several years ago.

The CBA, I don't know. It started as a typical league that was "owned" by the team owners. Later, Isiah Thomas bought the league (and that's when things started to go wrong). He was forced to sell when he became an NBA coach. (He turned down $11 million from the NBA for it, which then went and started the D League). After it went belly up, the CBA was bought out of bankruptcy by the IBA, which took several CBA teams. That league then merged with the IBL. The new league was rebranded the CBA. As far as I can tell, the last remaining CBA franchise owners were the last Albany Patroon owners, so I suppose (and some of the CBA old timers here would probably know for sure) the last Albany Patroon owners would hold those rights. Lawson-Fort Sill would be second in line, but since that franchise was brought in tact to the PBL, they probably relinquished any ownership rights to the CBA. If the Albany franchise no longer exists on paper or unless it was formally sold to some other entity, I'm sure someone could have the name and trademarks declared abandoned. In that case, go for it.

[turbocamyes]

The USBL name is owned by the United States Basketball League Inc., a publicly traded company with the Meisenheimer family as the primary stockholders. You can buy a share for 25 cents. This company has owned the name ever since it started. It originally was privately owned, but went public several years ago.

The CBA, I don't know. It started as a typical league that was "owned" by the team owners. Later, Isiah Thomas bought the league (and that's when things started to go wrong). He was forced to sell when he became an NBA coach. (He turned down $11 million from the NBA for it, which then went and started the D League). After it went belly up, the CBA was bought out of bankruptcy by the IBA, which took several CBA teams. That league then merged with the IBL. The new league was rebranded the CBA. As far as I can tell, the last remaining CBA franchise owners were the last Albany Patroon owners, so I suppose (and some of the CBA old timers here would probably know for sure) the last Albany Patroon owners would hold those rights. Lawson-Fort Sill would be second in line, but since that franchise was brought in tact to the PBL, they probably relinquished any ownership rights to the CBA. If the Albany franchise no longer exists on paper or unless it was formally sold to some other entity, I'm sure someone could have the name and trademarks declared abandoned. In that case, go for it.

Chuck's the expert here, but I thought the merging with the old IBL happened when the CBA folded due to the bankruptcy. Also, I wasn't aware that the IBA purchased the league. Again, I thought the IBA folded with a few teams moving to the new CBA the next year. But everything's now a blur, except for the fact that Isiah Thomas is evil and everything he touches turns to crap.

[CAVSFAN]

I will check with one of the owners of the CAVS but do believe that nksports is correct. Albany and th CAVS still have ownership rights to the cba as the last 2 teams standing in the cba.

[preeths]

According to a trademark search, Demperio Sports & Entertainment, LLC owns the CBA word mark.

[Aaronhere]

According to a trademark search, Demperio Sports & Entertainment, LLC owns the CBA word mark.

Interesting: On Sunday, June 28, 2009, a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed for CBA CONTINENTAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION. This trademark is owned by DEMPERIO SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT, LLC, Syracuse, NY 13215. The USPTO has given the CBA CONTINENTAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION trademark serial number of 77769747. The current federal status of this trademark filing is REGISTERED.
http://www.trademarkia.com/logo-images/demperio-sports--entertainment/cba-continental-basketball-association-77769747.jpg
The mark consists of large lower-case letters "cba" with the image of a basketball placed directly above the letter "b" and letter "a". Directly underneath the letters "cba" is the name "CONTINENTAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION".

They also own the trademark rights to the Big Apple Bowl and the Syracuse Snow Leopards (?).

[tops804]

Somebody tried to revive the CBA name last summer.

http://www.oursportscentral.com/boards/showthread.php?t=17717

CBA or ABA

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 Time: 5:00 PM. 1 views.

Cleveland area Fans the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) has accepted the Rockers into their league. The CBA is the oldest Professional Basketball league in the world which is scheduled to re-launch the league under new ownership in 2011-12 season with 8-12 new and existing teams. However, the Rockers must make the decision to leave the ABA, build a strong ownership group with a 3 year capitalzation plan and to secure a Venue outside of the city of Cleveland.
The Rockers have played three seasons in the ABA their most sucessful season was in 2008-2009 when they won the Northeast Divisional Title with a 22-4 record.

The CBA is a big jump for the Rockers and local players. The players know the money is better overseas, but CBA salaries are much higher than those in the ABA, and the CBA provides an opportunity to be called up for a 10-day contracts in the NBA during the season.

So we are asking our fans, ABA or the CBA? Leave your comments below.

The link on the Cleveland Rockers website was taken down within days. Leaving me to believe somebody has the rights to the name, and wasn't involved with who ever planned to bring it back...(They also used a different logo.)

[CBAWorldHoops.com]

The USBL name is owned by the United States Basketball League Inc., a publicly traded company with the Meisenheimer family as the primary stockholders. You can buy a share for 25 cents. This company has owned the name ever since it started. It originally was privately owned, but went public several years ago.

The CBA, I don't know. It started as a typical league that was "owned" by the team owners. Later, Isiah Thomas bought the league (and that's when things started to go wrong). He was forced to sell when he became an NBA coach. (He turned down $11 million from the NBA for it, which then went and started the D League). After it went belly up, the CBA was bought out of bankruptcy by the IBA, which took several CBA teams. That league then merged with the IBL. The new league was rebranded the CBA. As far as I can tell, the last remaining CBA franchise owners were the last Albany Patroon owners, so I suppose (and some of the CBA old timers here would probably know for sure) the last Albany Patroon owners would hold those rights. Lawson-Fort Sill would be second in line, but since that franchise was brought in tact to the PBL, they probably relinquished any ownership rights to the CBA. If the Albany franchise no longer exists on paper or unless it was formally sold to some other entity, I'm sure someone could have the name and trademarks declared abandoned. In that case, go for it.

It would not be right of me to speculate on what happened within the walls of the CBA in late 2008 but this is when the trademark was abandoned and it did not seem like anyone took notice outside of us. The league then folded in 2009 and gave no indication it was coming back so we registered the trademark expecting opposition after publishing our application. To our surprise no opposition came and we secured the CBA name and logo.

A number of months after the fact we received an angry call from an individual tied to the old CBA and Albany Patroons during a time we feel a sale was made or pending. We attempted to reach out to those involved with the Patroons but no correspondence was ever returned.

[CBAWorldHoops.com]

Somebody tried to revive the CBA name last summer.

http://www.oursportscentral.com/boards/showthread.php?t=17717



The link on the Cleveland Rockers website was taken down within days. Leaving me to believe somebody has the rights to the name, and wasn't involved with who ever planned to bring it back...(They also used a different logo.)

We were not involved and had no knowledge of what was going on until browsing oursportscentral. We had all of the sites taken down.

[CBAWorldHoops.com]

According to a trademark search, Demperio Sports & Entertainment, LLC owns the CBA word mark.

The contact information for the CBA is listed below. At this time we would appreciate all interested parties to contact us via email or traditional mail.

Continental Basketball Association
PO BOX 691
Camillus, NY 13031

info@cbaworldhoops.com