The Republic | azcentral.com Thu Feb 6, 2014 10:41 AM

The Phoenix Coyotes’ marketing slogan once was “Hockey the hard way,” and that apparently extends even to a name change.

Coyotes team President and CEO Anthony LeBlanc announced last week that the National Hockey League franchise will become the Arizona Coyotes next season. However, a Phoenix man has already registered the trade name with the state and has sought federal trademark protection, although he so far has been denied.

Tony Fioretto also has registered other trade names with the state, including Phx Suns, Phx Cardinals, Phx Coyotes and AZ Diamondbacks, according to state records.

Fioretto dropped his state registration for Phoenix Open after the Thunderbirds, hosts of the Waste Management Phoenix Open golf tournament, sued him in 2013.

The Thunderbirds have since filed for a federal trademark of the name, which trumps state registration claims.

Hockey officials would not publicly say whether that is their plan as well.

“The Coyotes have long been aware of the attempt by a party to illegitimately profit from its new name and have been appropriately addressing the issue,” Coyotes spokesman Rich Nairn said in an e-mail.

He called it a “misguided effort” that will not impact the team’s plans.

The Coyotes moved to the Valley in 1996, and talk of changing the name to embrace fans from around the state began not long after.

LeBlanc and other team owners agreed to pursue the name change after inking a deal with Glendale last year.

The team plays at the city’s Jobing.com Arena.

Fioretto registered “Arizona Coyotes” and the others with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office in 2010.

The status basically notes one’s association with a name and may offer some grounds to sue others for infringement, said Maria De La Hoya, customer-service supervisor of the secretary of state’s business services.

However, she noted that a business famously associated with a trade name has rights over an unassociated person — even when that person holds the registered name.

When Fioretto tried to assert his right to the use of the Phoenix Open name, the Thunderbirds took him to court.

“It’s analogous to cyber-squatting,” Thunderbirds attorney Andrea Stone said. “When domain names first started coming out, people would run out and register for names like Coca-Cola, thinking they would have to buy it from them.”

She said it seldom works.

Fioretto said he registered names similar to Valley sports franchises as part of his plan to open a north Phoenix gym with basketball courts, an indoor golf facility and a baseball diamond.

“I did everything legally,” he said. “These were things that were part of my master plan. (The names) had recognition.”

Representatives from the Phoenix Suns and the Arizona Cardinals said they have never encountered Fioretto.

The man, working through his Physical Fitness LLC, requested a federal trademark for “Arizona Coyotes” last September, saying he wanted to use the name on such things as merchandise and sports events.

The U.S. Trademark and Patent Office refused Fioretto’s application and gave him until June 30 to make a case that using the name would not confuse consumers with existing Coyotes usage.

Matthew Bycer, a Scottsdale trademark attorney, said that it’s not unusual for applicants to initially get rejected but that Fioretto would likely have difficulty convincing the government that using “Arizona Coyotes” would not confuse consumers.

Fioretto’s attorney, John Lohr Jr., said Fioretto will continue his effort.