NJ Hockey Owner Backtracks on Suspension Threat Over Custom Jackets

An owner of a New Jersey youth hockey organization threatened to suspend players whose mothers had custom jackets made using team branding without authorization. Bobby Reiss, owner of the Jersey Hitmen and the Ice Vault arena in Wayne, sent an email to parents stating that the use of Hitmen logos and trademarks violated their contracts and that players would be suspended until restitution was made.

Reiss also sought a 15% royalty on the jackets. The email and a photo of the parents wearing the jackets subsequently went viral online. However, Reiss later clarified to NJ.com that the players were never suspended and attended their scheduled practice. He stated the warning was intended to capture the parents' attention regarding the violation of organizational guidelines.

Reiss explained that the threat of suspension for the children was a tactic to engage the parents, as he believed it was the only way to get them to address the issue. He noted that in the past, he had permitted parents to create merchandise when the organization could not produce it themselves, differentiating that situation from the recent one.

He asserted that the parents did not seek permission to use the branding and did not explore alternative solutions with him. Reiss mentioned that he had invested in personnel to produce team merchandise, and unauthorized use of trademarks diverted business from those authorized producers. The 15% royalty was proposed as a fee comparable to those charged by larger organizations.

"All I want people to do is respect the boundaries that you agreed to," Reiss said. "We provide a service, they partake of the service, but within that service, there are restrictions."

Reiss emphasized that the children would not be penalized, stating, "The kids will never be affected. Let me make that perfectly clear."