The Matchmaker's Trademarks
Scott Anthony Michaels, the self-proclaimed football entrepreneur in the middle of a number of legal actions surrounding the New York Cosmos soccer organization, is a serial entrepreneur who maintains an interest in registering trademarks related to his businesses. A deep dive into these trademark registrations may tell us something about what might be motivating his recent legal battles. All the information mentioned in this article can be found publicly available.
Hairbond
Hairbond is the brand name for a line of hairstyling products that are sold by a number of Michaels’ businesses. The earliest trademark registration found via publicly available sources connected to Michaels is “HB Hairbond United Kingdom”. That mark was applied for on 14 May, 2008 with the UK’s Intellectual Property Office and registered by that organization on 3 October, 2008. This trademark, number UK00002487491, is active through 14 May, 2008.
It is important to note that this specific trademark is held by a company called Brands United Corp. That company is registered in the Seychelles with its address at House of Francis Room, 303 Ile Du Port Mahe. While a search of the official Seychelles business register does not pull up any information related to “Brands United Corp,” this trademark on the UKIPO site lists Scott Michaels, with an address at Suite A, 82 James Carter Road, Mildenhall, is listed as the representative for this company. That address is the same one that Michaels uses for his Football Is For the Fans, Ltd. business in the middle of his current legal issues.
The “HB Hairbond United Kingdom” trademark was registered in Australia in 2013 and with the US Patent and Trademark Office in 2014. The former is held personally by Scott Anthony Michaels and does not expire until 2033. The latter was held by “Hairbond Ltd.” until the mark’s termination on 21 March, 2025.
Hairbond Limited was a business incorporated in the UK on 13 March, 2008 and formally dissolved on 17 September, 2019. Michaels was listed as Secretary and Director of Hairbond Limited from its date of founding through its dissolution. Scott Michaels’ mother, Carol Ann Michaels, was the only other company Director from its founding date until the first week of April, 2014. Later that week Scott Michaels’ spouse, Lindsey Joanne Michaels, was appointed as a company Director and stayed in that position until the company was dissolved.
Two more trademarks are listed as having been owned by Hairbond Limited. That company was listed as the holder of the trademark “Oxcited Science”; one in the US and one in the UK. The UK mark was registered from 2013 to 2023 and the US mark was registered from 2014 to 2021.
Stylo Matchmakers
Scott Anthony Michaels formed a new UK company, Stylo Matchmakers Global Ltd, on 16 February, 2017. He would be the sole Director of that company for its entire existence. The company’s name was changed to Barratts Retail Limited in early February of 2019 and was dissolved on 13 August, 2019.
Before Stylo Matchmakers Global was incorporated, Brands United Corp (with Michaels as its representative) trademarked “Matchmakers” in the UK on 10 October, 2016. The mark was registered on 6 January, 2017 and is still active until 2026.
From early 2017 to early 2019, the mark “Stylo Matchmakers” was registered with more than a dozen intellectual property organizations. Michaels himself personally owns the trademark in the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Singapore, the Philippines, Iceland, the African IPO, and with the WIPO. Michaels personally held the mark in the US from 2017 to 2014 and in Cuba from 2018 to 2020.
In the UK the “Stylo Matchmakers” trademark is held by Brands United Corp (again with Michaels as its representative. That mark was registered in late May of 2017 and is active until January of 2027. That mark was held by Stylo Matchmakers Global Ltd. in Brazil from 2018 to 2019. And that company applied for that same trademark in Canada in late 2018 but the registration was never completed.
Interestingly, the “Stylo Matchmakers” trademark was registered in four other countries by an American company. In December of 2018 to February 2019, Stylo Brands LLC applied for registrations for that mark in Thailand, Tunisia, Indonesia, and Norway. The Thailand registration is still pending as of this article’s publication. The other three marks are active through 2028.
Stylo Brands LLC was incorporated in Wyoming on 12 September 2018. The registered office for the company is listed as Priory Close, St. Mary's Gate, Lancaster. That is the same address as what was listed for Hairbond Limited and Stylo Matchmakers Global Ltd./Barratts Retail Limited. Stylo Brands LLC was administratively dissolved on 12 November, 2019 due to tax delinquency.
Four more trademarks were registered by Scott Michaels and his related businesses during this time. “Heirship”, “Mr Crack”, and “Savier” are still active and held by Brands United Corp in the UK. “Pooh Jeans” and “Bestie” were registered personally by Michaels in late 2017 but were terminated in mid-2018 and December of 2017 respectively.
Hairbond 2.0
Scott Michaels and his wife, Lindsey, dissolved their original Hairbond Limited business in mid-2019. On April 16, 2019, the pair formed two new UK companies. Scott formed Hairbond Retail Ltd. and has served as its only Director since. Lindsey formed Hairbond Worldwide Ltd. and has served as its only Director since.
Neither company has filed for registration of any trademarks. Also, neither company has thrived. The last publicly available financials for both companies are for fiscal years ending 31 August, 2025. Those show that Hairbond Retail has net liabilities of £23,728 and Hairbond Worldwide has net liabilities of £186,719. On 30 September, 2025, Hairbond Retail applied to strike that company off the UK's register of active companies.
National Soccer League
After a few years, Scott Anthony Michaels began another spate of registering for trademarks. In April of 2022, Michaels personally applied to register “NSL National Soccer League” with the USPTO. That was quickly followed by applications for “Los Angeles Aztecs”, “NASL”, and “Washington Diplomats”. In all, by the end of 2022, Michaels has applied for trademarks for 15 soccer-related terms with the USPTO. Four more followed in 2023. None of these applications were accepted and are all still pending.
It was during this time that Michaels began publicly announcing that he was going to launch the NSL in the US as a new professional league. One business that he lifted up as behind this endeavor was “Football People”.
Michaels had formed Football People Ltd. in the UK on 19 August, 2020. He was the sole Director listed for the company. Football People was dissolved on 18 Jan, 2022, well before Michaels began pushing his new league.
Football Is For the Fans
On 20 May, 2025, Scott Michaels formed Football Is For the Fans Ltd. in the UK and serves as its sole Director. That same day Brands United Corp applied for nine trademarks in the UK. “Scott Michaels trading as Football Is For the Fans” is listed as the representative for all these applications.
These marks all have some relation to the trademarks that Michaels applied for previously with the USPTO. These marks include “NSL National Soccer League”, “San Antonio Thunder 1975”, “Ft. Lauderdale Strikers 1977”, “NY Cosmos 10 1970”, and “Washington Diplomats 1974”.
Two days later Brands United Corp applied for two more UK trademarks - “Soccer Bowl” and “Cosmos 10 1970”. That same day, Football Is For the Fans Ltd. applied for a trademark for “North American Soccer League” in the UK. Five of these trademarks were registered in August and September of 2025 but the remaining seven were terminated during those months. Most were terminated after oppositions were filed.
On 4 June, 2025, all of Michael’s pending trademark applications with the USPTO were transferred to Football Is For the Fans Inc. That company is listed as incorporated in Texas with an address in Austin. Three of these applications, for “Atlanta Chiefs”, “San Antonio Thunder”, and “California Surf”, were suspended in 2025 pending administrative review.
Three days later, Brands United Corp applied for a trademark in the UK for “New York Cosmos”. During the rest of June and early July of 2025, eight more Cosmos-related trademarks were applied for by a variety of entities and in a variety of countries.
Football Is For the Fans Ltd. applied for trademarks with the WIPO, the EU, and the USPTO. Brands United applied for two in the UK. Michaels personally applied for one in Canada.
On 18 June, 2025, Football Is For the Fans, Inc. applied with the USPTO for a trademark of “New York Cosmos”. Confusingly, this company is listed as being incorporated in Delaware but lists the same address as the company incorporated in Texas. That Delaware company was incorporated on 13 May, 2025.
On 22 August, 2025, Scott Michaels personally applied for a trademark for “North American Soccer League” in Canada and Brands United applied for the same mark in the UK. All but one of the Michaels-related applications from June through August 2025 are still pending. The only mark registered was for “NY Cosmos 10 1970” with the WIPO. That mark was registered on 11 June, 2025 in the designated countries of the UK and US.
Football Is For the Fans CIC
On 14 July, 2025, Scott Anthony Michaels formed the UK organization, Football Is For the Fans Community CIC. Michaels is listed as the CIC’s sole Director. The CIC’s address is Suite A, 82 James Carter Road in Mildenhall, UK. This is the same address as Football Is For the Fans Ltd. as well as the address that is given for Michaels as the representative for the trademarks held by Brands United Corp.
The CIC’s incorporation documents includes a declaration that the organization’s activities will benefit:
“[f]ootball supporters and football players and managers. This will be through a range of activities that will support community-based football initiatives, rehabilitate football careers, and provide a free license to use historic football club IP to foster community ownership and grassroots fan engagement.”
Among the listed CIC’s activities includes:
“The CIC will have the rights to historic football IP provided free of charge by Football Is For The Fans Ltd. This will allow fans to have ownership rights and be involved in key decisions in heritage football clubs.”
In addition:
“The free licensing of historic club IP will allow fan backed teams to re-emerge as opposed to remaining dormant and this will allow the celebration and highlight the history of those clubs.”
The CIC will do this by:
“[c]reating a framework to allow football fans in having a meaningful stake in reviving heritage football clubs. It will do this via Football Is For the Fans Ltd, which already owns or controls comprehensive rights around football-related intellectual property - including assets tied to teams like the LA Aztecs, New York Cosmos, Chicago Sting, Washington Diplomats.”
Conclusion
A summary of the trademark registrations of Michaels and his various related organizations doesn’t tell the entire story related to the lawsuits he is involved with. But, it provides some context as to why the current situation is what it is.
- Dan Creel