Are Detroit Shock coming back? What to know about U.S. trademark.
(CBS DETROIT) - Twelve years after the sale of Detroit's WNBA franchise, Ryan Reed sought to bring them back.
"I love the Shock," said Reed, who founded a second interaction of the Women's Basketball League Inc. with the goal of providing a developmental opportunity for basketball players between collegiate and WNBA opportunities. "You know, I've been using the Shock as the LLC since 2021, 2022. I thought there was no chance they were coming back when I started doing it."
"Some people think I'm doing it for money purposes, I'm like no," Reed added. "My league is to pay homage to women's basketball."
The original "WBL" had 14 teams in its three seasons of existence as the first professional women's basketball league in the United States. After disbanding in 1981, the American Basketball League and Women's National Basketball Association emerged 15 years later.
"If you look at the WBL, that was the league back in 1978. So we got the blessing from those women who played in that league, and they work with us. So I said, 'I love the Shock. I'm going to bring back my favorite team of basketball,'" Reed said.
The league's website advertises six teams: the Cleveland Rockers, Chicago Flames, Toronto North Stars, Grand Rapids Soul, Indiana Thunder and Detroit Shock.
Reed's WBL filed for the CLEVELAND ROCKERS trademark on Sept. 28, 2023. The WNBA also filed an application for that name on Feb. 3, 2025, three days after Tom Gores' super crew of investors announced their official bid to bring the WNBA back to Detroit.
On Feb. 4, Reed's modernized Detroit Shock logo advanced to the Trademark Official Gazette stage of the application process.
"You have, in that 30-day window, to file a notice of opposition," said Zakari Kurtz, principal attorney and founder of Sneaker Legal, who is not the representative counsel of either party in this matter. "I'm 99% sure the WNBA is going to file a notice of opposition during that 30-day window, and one of the main reasons that tells me they're going to do that is because of their new application."
On Jan. 30, WNBA Properties, Inc. filed a trademark application for DETROIT SHOCK. Reed tells CBS Detroit that he and his representation were told by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Monday that the WNBA's application was likely denied because he beat the league to it. His application for the wordmark from 2023 was officially registered as of Tuesday.
"It's so many different ways they could go, but I talked to the USPTO yesterday. They said that application will be denied, that the WNBA put in," Reed said. "It could go any way. They could reach out and settle, try to get the name; it's so many different ways it could go. They could try to fight me and take it. You just never know."
However, trademark attorney Antoine H.M. Wade said the claims that the USPTO informed him or Reed it would deny the WNBA's recent application were false.
"The USPTO does not correspond in that manner. Also, the client was well informed of the risks and backlash he could receive as a result of filing for DETROIT SHOCK due to the WNBA's past use of the trademark," Wade said in an emailed statement to CBS News Detroit.
Meanwhile, Reed says he's open to communication or collaboration with Detroit's potential WNBA powers: "It'd be dope having the Shock back in the WNBA."