Editing Three-peat (section)

==Origin and trademark==
The term is a [[registered trademark]] owned by [[Pat Riley]], the Lakers' head coach from 1981 to 1990. The original owner and assignor of the underlying THREE-PEAT "mark" was Bijan Khezri, former president of P.d.P. Paperon De Paperoni, a Delaware corporation. Khezri submitted in November 1988 a [[trademark]] application for the use of ''three-peat'' on shirts, jackets and hats. Around that time, the phrase was being used by members and fans of the [[Los Angeles Lakers]] [[basketball]] team, of whom Pat Riley was the head coach, regarding the Lakers' quest that season to obtain what would have been a third successive NBA championship. According to Riley, it was Laker player [[Byron Scott (basketball)|Byron Scott]] who cited the term in reference to the team's goal for that season.

After Khezri assigned the trademark to Riley, it remained an entity of Riles & Co., the corporate entity of National Basketball Association (NBA) coach Pat Riley.
In 1989, Riles & Co. successfully registered the trademark under U.S. Registration Number 1552980. The Lakers did not win a third consecutive NBA championship in [[1988–89 NBA season|1989]], but the [[Chicago Bulls]] did in [[1992–93 NBA season|1993]], and Riles & Co. collected royalties from sports apparel makers who licensed the phrase for use on merchandise commemorating that accomplishment. 

Riles & Co. subsequently obtained additional registrations expanding the trademark to cover many other kinds of merchandise in addition to apparel. The company then went on to reap additional profits by again licensing the phrase to merchandisers when the Bulls again won three consecutive NBA championships from [[1995–96 NBA season|1996]] through [[1997–98 NBA season|1998]], as well as when the [[New York Yankees]] won three straight [[World Series]] championships from [[1998 in baseball|1998]] through [[2000 in baseball|2000]] and when the Lakers won three straight NBA championships from [[1999–2000 NBA season|2000]] through [[2001–02 NBA season|2002]]. It was the Lakers' second three-peat in franchise history and only their first since moving from Minneapolis. As of 2025, the Lakers are the last team of the four major American professional sports (NHL, MLB, NFL, NBA) to achieve a three-peat. Incidentally, Pat Riley was the head coach of the losing teams (New York Knicks in 1992 and 1993, Miami Heat in 1996 and 1997) that were eliminated by the Bulls during their 1991-93 and 1996-98 three-peats of NBA Championships. [[Phil Jackson]] was the head coach of the Bulls for both of these three-peats, and serving in that same capacity for the Lakers when they achieved their second three-peat.

While originating in the United States, the three-peat has been replicated all over the world across different sports. In recent times, Spanish [[association football]] club [[Real Madrid C.F.|Real Madrid]] notably became the first club of the modern era to win three consecutive [[UEFA Champions League]] titles ([[2015–16 UEFA Champions League|2015–16]], [[2016–17 UEFA Champions League|2016–17]] and [[2017–18 UEFA Champions League|2017–18]]).

The trademark registration for ''three-peat'' has been challenged over the years by those who argue that the term has become too generic in its usage for the trademark to continue to be applicable. However, such arguments have yet to succeed, with the registration continuing to be upheld by the [[United States Patent and Trademark Office]] as recently as 2001, in the case of ''Christopher Wade v. Riles & Co''. This challenge documented the transfer of assignment from Khezri to Riles & Co., and upheld the validity of the trademark as originally conceived.

In 2005, a group of individuals attempted to trademark the phrase ''Three-Pete'' in anticipation of the (ultimately unsuccessful) attempt that year by the [[2005 USC Trojans football team]] to win a third consecutive national championship. The change in spelling was a reference to the team's head coach, [[Pete Carroll]]. However, the Patent Office ruled that the change in spelling was not dissimilar enough from Riles & Co.'s ''three-peat'', and denied the registration. Later that year, U.S.C. fan Kyle Bunch began selling his own "Three-Pete" T-shirts. He discontinued sales once he was notified that he was infringing upon the Riles & Co. trademark.