Dan Skuta opposes Jaguars' attempt to trademark 'Sacksonville'

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Former Jacksonville Jaguars player Dan Skuta has filed a notice of opposition to the team attempting to trademark the term "Sacksonville."

Skuta claims in his filing that he created the Sacksonville brand in July 2015 -- shortly after he signed as a free agent with the Jaguars -- and also created a logo, an Instagram account and a Twitter account using the term.

He also says his company, Yeti, LLC, has been selling Sacksonville merchandise before the Jaguars began using the term last September. Per Skuta's filing, the Jaguars filed to trademark the term on Oct. 18, 2017.

Skuta did not return a text seeking comment but posted a statement on Twitter.

According to the notice of opposition filed on May 4, 2018, Yeti LLC has been selling hats, T-shirts, tank tops, children's toys, and various other merchandise through an online store and has generated revenue of $3,043.89.

The Jaguars released the following statement to ESPN: "The Jaguars are unable to comment at this time as we've been in active discussions with Dan Skuta and his representatives for some time to develop a resolution to this matter."

The Jaguars used the Sacksonville term before Skuta was on the roster. They welcomed free agent signee Chris Clemons to Sacksonville In a tweet from the team's official Twitter account on March 13, 2014.

They began using Sacksonville last season after the team had 10 sacks in a Week 1 victory over Houston. The team changed the name of its Twitter account #Sacksonville after that game (it's now #DUUUVAL) and has been selling Sacksonville merchandise.

Skuta's filing says he created the Instagram account @sacksonville on July 30, 2015, and a Twitter account @DefendDuval, which also uses Sacksonville as its name. That account's first tweet was Aug. 3, 2015.

Skuta's filing also claims the Jaguars were aware that Skuta wanted to market the Sacksonville brand and never objected to him using the term. The filing claims the Jaguars repeatedly tagged and liked his posts on the @sacksonville Instagram account and alerted Jaguars fans to Skuta's sacksonville.org website, which had a link where people could purchase Sacksonville merchandise.

Typing sacksonville.com into a web browser re-directs you to Jaguars.com, the team's official website.

Skuta signed a five-year contract worth $20.5 million with $8.1 million guaranteed with the Jaguars in March 2015. He played two seasons in Jacksonville, recording 1 1/2 sacks, 55 tackles and 1 forced fumble in 26 games.