One of the hurdles impeding the return of the Atlantic Schooners to a Canadian Football League field is now gone.
The trademark for Atlantic Schooners — one of the prospective names for a CFL franchise in Halifax — has officially been registered by an organization known to be interested in bringing a football franchise to the East Coast.
The trademark would allow the holder to control intellectual property associated with the name such as licence plate holders, athletic apparel and football figurines.
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The trademark holder is also listed as having an interest in protecting the copyright when it comes to the broadcasting and re-broadcasting of football games, personal appearances by a sports celebrity or football player and the sales of sporting goods.
TSN reported in November that a group pitching a CFL team made a presentation to the league’s board of governors in Toronto. Anthony Leblanc, a former president and CEO of the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, was a partner in the group.
Public documents filed with both the province of Nova Scotia and trademark application link LeBlanc with 3312738 Nova Scotia Limited, a numbered company that now owns the registered Atlantic Schooners trademark.
According to documents filed with the Government of Canada, the application for the trademark originated with a numbered company registered in Nova Scotia.
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Information listed from Nova Scotia’s Registry of Joint Stocks indicate that the numbered company is also known as Maritime Football Limited.
Maritime Football Limited’s board of directors include Leblanc, Bruce Bowser, the Director of AMJ Campbell Inc. and Gary Drummond, former president of Hockey Operations for the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes.
Both the company and the application for the trademark were filed on Nov. 28, two days after the 2017 Grey Cup, the CFL’s championship game.
— With a file from the Canadian Press