Thrilling the Valley of the Sun with professional hockey memories since 1967

The Story of the Death and Re-Birth of Rocky

     The following is a brief story of the death and re-birth of Rocky - the Phoenix Roadrunner brand - and how we brought the brand back to life to make sure that the storied history of the Phoenix Roadrunners continues ....

Our History with the Phoenix Roadrunners

     Robert grew up on Scottsdale and had been a lifelong Phoenix Roadrunners hockey fan, and when the team folded for good after the 2009 season he was broken hearted....but he got by, because there was still professional hockey in the Phoenix area - the Coyotes - and even though we no longer lived in the Phoenix area (having left in 2006 for Southern Nevada), the Coyotes were his team.

Short History of the Phoenix Roadrunners Brand - (how it died)

       The original Phoenix Roadrunners played in the Western Hockey League from 1967-1974 - then the World Hockey Association from 1974-1977. The 1977 - 1978 seasons saw the Runners jump to the Central Hockey League, then the Pacific Hockey League, where the team folded after the 1979 season. The team colors were gold, black and Carolina blue - with the famous skating roadrunner. During this time, the team used an alternate logo, their beloved roadrunner surrounded by an outline of the State of Arizona. The color scheme changed, and the alternate team colors were teal, black, red and white.

     The second round Phoenix Roadrunners played in the International Hockey league from 1989-1997. The distinct roadrunner logo was used again on the uniforms; however, the colors had changed to blue and gray. The team folded operations at the close of the 1997 season. Between January - September, 2003 - the Roadrunner brand was cancelled by the owners at that time, thereby allowing any other party to seek to register the trademark under the provisions of the Lanham Act of 1946.

     The Roadrunners brand name was re-animated for a third time in 2005 for Phoenix’s new franchise in the ECHL. The logo had been modernized - but the Roadrunner was in the same position and the colors had changed to Carolina blue, black, sunflower gold, white.  Those Roadrunners lasted four seasons, shutting down operations after the 2009 season and on October 19, 2009, the trademark application for the modernized Roadrunner was abandoned by the owners, "Legacy Hockey, LLC".

Seeking to Protect the Legacy of the Phoenix Roadrunner Brand in 2021

     How this has all has happened will no doubt surprise you as it has us - but here goes ...

     One day in January, 2011 I was killin' some time and 'surfing the net' - and for some reason I looked up the Phoenix Roadrunners. Strange as it may seem, after looking for quite some time, I could not find one "Phoenix Roadrunner" website anywhere on the net. Even though there were a lot of websites with stories, historical information .... and of course .... the infamous "Wikipedia", there was no .com, no .org, no .team ...... nothing.

     So, having spent 35 years in the legal business and being quite familiar with trademark, patent and copyright law, I decided to check the USPTO and United States Copyright Office websites just to see if someone had claimed the Phoenix Roadrunner brand - either by trademark or by copyright - and much to my surprise, after more than 8 years, no one had claimed the original nor the modernized Phoenix Roadrunner brands...they were in a DEAD status - the original brand in 2003 and the modernized brand in 2009.

     I then did quite a bit more research, and when I was sure that we would not be violating any trademark or copyright laws, we began manufacturing and selling Phoenix Roadrunner memorabilia on March 5, 2011 ... we had started to build a history of use in commerce that we would need to successfully seek the trademarks to the Phoenix Roadrunner brand.

     The owner of the original trademark was the "Phoenix Roadrunners Hockey Club, Inc." I knew that a trademark can be reclaimed by the owner if the owner can show that it still using it. So from March, 2011 until March, 2021 ... we waited and quietly went about our business...at which time we hit the 10 year mark that we had set as our time that we would seek to register the trademark if it had not been taken ... and in March, 2021, now retired, I spent many weeks searching everything I could about the Phoenix Roadrunners and the Phoenix Roadrunners Hockey Club, Inc. ownership.

     What I found "10 years later" was nearly impossible to believe and understand. For the life of me I could fathom how the Phoenix Roadrunners brand "Rocky", which in the 70's and 80's was consistently voted as one of the best and most recognizable sports brands - along with Arizona State University's "Sparky", could sit dead and unclaimed for more than 18 years ... when it represented the Phoenix Metropolitan Area from 1967 (until now) - with a population of more than 4,500,000 people ... but there it sat ... dead - unclaimed and just waiting for us to register it!

     (On a side note: in my research, I found something even more crazy. The Tucson Roadrunners, the current minor league affiliate for the Arizona Coyotes does not have a trademark on their brand - other than the terms "Tucson Roadrunners". This team came into existence in the 2016-2017 season - and 5 years later, their brand is still not protected. That simply blew my mind that something that significant could "slip through the cracks" of their business model....but that is for another day I guess.)

     So after I completed my research on the Phoenix Roadrunner brand, I was convinced that the brand was no longer protected under US (or international) trademark laws and was unclaimed - and so we have taken the steps to secure and register the brand with the USPTO - and in June, 2021, we incorporated in the State of Arizona under the corporate name "Phoenix Roadrunners Hockey Club, Inc." .... YES ... the exact name of the previous owner of the brand. We also registered the Trade Name "Phoenix Roadrunners" with the Arizona Secretary of State. Quite frankly, we could not have planned this any better.

     On Sunday, June 27, 2021, after 18 years since the original logo was placed in a "dead" status with the USPTO, 12 years since the modernized logo was placed in a "dead" status with the USPTO and more than 10 years of our using the brand in commerce -  my wife and I submitted our applications (as individuals) with the USPTO to register and protect the legacy of the Phoenix Roadrunners brand. 

     On May 9, 2023 - nearly 2 years after we filed our application for a trademark, the US Patent and Trademark Office officially awarded Robert and Denise Pilkington trademarks 7,045,796 and 7,045,797 for the Phoenix Roadrunner logo. (See below for the Certificates)

      PLEASE enjoy our new website.

      Robert Pilkington and Denise Pilkington