The resurrection of one of the original Women’s National Basketball Association identities looks to be in doubt thanks to a trademark dispute involving a rap music superstar.
In late March, Fertitta Entertainment — owners of the NBA‘s Houston Rockets — announced they had purchased the Connecticut Sun and, pending league approval, would move the team to Houston for the 2027 season. At the time, they also announced their intention to call the team the Houston Comets, reviving the name of one of the WNBA’s original teams from 1997 and winner of the first four league championships.
SportsLogos.net files
But that plan is now in jeopardy because another company has seemingly beaten the WNBA to the trademark for the name. A search of the United States Patent and Trademark Office database shows that, while WNBA Enterprises has two pending trademarks for “Houston Comets” that were filed in February 2025, a third was filed in May 2024 by a company called TSTM Holdings LLC.
According to a report by Michael Shapiro of Chron.com, the listed representative for TSTM Holdings, Kia Karman, is an attorney who has often represented rapper Travis Scott. Shapiro was able to confirm that Scott is connected to TSTM Holdings through a source familiar with the legal battle.
In March, Fertitta Entertainment seemed confident in their ability to secure the Comets name, publicly stating they would use it in social media posts through the Rockets’ accounts and in a press release. They also launched a team website at HoustonComets.com.
OFFICIAL: Houston Rockets owner @TilmanJFertitta‘s company, Fertitta Entertainment, has entered into an agreement to purchase the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun, with plans to relocate the franchise to Houston and bring back the historic Houston Comets (@HouComets) name. Pending league… pic.twitter.com/Hua3dWTZlC
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) March 30, 2026
“My family and I are thrilled for the opportunity to bring the Houston Comets back to this incredible city. Houston has a proud championship history in the WNBA, with banners from the Comets’ four historic championship seasons still hanging in the rafters of Toyota Center. 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.”
— Patrick Fertitta, alternate governor, Houston Rockets (via press release)
WNBAE filed an opposition to TSTM Holding’s trademark ownership in May 2025, alleging TSTM doesn’t intend to use or monetize the trademark.
“Notably, TSTM has provided no information to support that it has a legitimate claim to the name of a beloved sports team and the goodwill that WNBAE built and has maintained for a period of nearly thirty years,” reads WNBAE’s filing, as quoted by Shapiro on Chron.com.
“The fact that TSTM has chosen to pursue a mark identical to WNBAE’s Comets Word Mark for identical and overlapping goods and services, along with its refusal to identify any bona fide intentions, absence of any evidence of use in the marketplace or even of its plans to use the mark. … raise[s] a plausible inference that TSTM lacks bona fide intent.”
Kamran, the TSTM representative, did not respond to Shapiro’s request for comment, and declined to answer emailed questions from USA Today reporter Danielle Lerner.
The resurrection of two other former WNBA team names is also in doubt because of trademark issues. The league has announced that it would expand to Cleveland in 2028 and to Detroit in 2029, and speculation has been rampant that they would revive the Cleveland Rockers and Detroit Shock monikers from the 1990s and 2000s.
But USPTO searches show that Women’s Basketball League Inc., based in Michigan, has registered trademarks for both of those names. They filed for the Detroit Shock trademark in July 2023 and the Cleveland Rockers trademark in September 2023. In her USA Today story, Lerner describes the Women’s Basketball League as “a startup pro league that has yet to tip off.”
SportsLogos.net files
The WNBA also plans to add an expansion team in Philadelphia in 2030.