Melbourne Rangers Trademark Application Lodged by Cricket Victoria

Cricket Victoria has applied to IP Australia to trademark “Melbourne Rangers”, along with “Blazers” and “Magic”. The application was lodged last Thursday, two days after CV CEO Nick Cummins told staff about a new plan for Melbourne’s BBL teams. It covers clothing, sporting goods, apps, software and fitness services. A first examination report is due by early September. Cricket Victoria (CV) has applied to trademark Rangers with the application available to view on the IP Australia website - the government agency that manages intellectual property rights. The paperwork was filed on June 4, two days after the news broke of Stars and Melbourne Renegades being merged with CV's second BBL license set to be sold off in its entirety to a new owner. The application is currently stated as "waiting for examination", with an expected response date of September 3. Any renaming also has to be approved by Cricket Australia (CA). CV is pushing to merge Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades into one team it will run, and sell the second licence to a private buyer as part of BBL privatisation. The merged team would stay “Melbourne” not “Victoria”, play at the MCG, and wear navy blue state colours. The Stars name/logo/identity would be dropped. There remains a chance that Renegades will still exist for the 2026-27 season in caretaker mode should either the license not be sold in time for the start of the WBBL in October or new owners not be ready for a full takeover - although all options still rely on states voting to proceed. Australian cricket was plunged into chaos last week when news of the Melbourne merger broke on Tuesday evening following a CV meeting where staff were informed of the plans. It led to damage-limitation from both CV and CA over the next 72 hours. CA had initially planned for the entire tournament to go into privatisation but NSW's objections to the proposal - along with varying degrees of concerns from Queensland and South Australia - halted that process and led CA to work on a model whereby individual states could decide what they do.