Federal Judge Orders Cancellation of Redskins' Trademark Registrations

[RunKC]

Federal judge orders cancellation of Redskins’ trademark registrations
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google Plus Share via Email More Options

Resize Text Print Article Comments 395
Who is open to changing the Redskins’ name?
View Photos PHOTOS | More and more people are saying the NFL franchise for Washington should change its name. Here are a few of them.
By Ian Shapira July 8 at 9:43 AM
The Washington Redskins lost their biggest legal and public relations battle yet in the war over their name after a federal judge in Northern Virginia on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of the NFL team’s federal trademark registrations, which have been opposed for decades by many Native Americans who feel the moniker disparages their race.

The cancellation doesn’t go into effect until the Redskins have exhausted the appeals process in the federal court system. But even if the Redskins ultimately take the case to the Supreme Court and lose, the team can still use “Redskins” and seek trademark protections under state law. The team has argued, however, that a cancellation of its trademarks could taint its brand and remove legal benefits that would protect against copycat entrepreneurs.

U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee’s decision affirmed an earlier ruling by the federal Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Last year, the appeal board declared in a 2-to-1 vote that the team’s moniker is offensive to Native Americans and therefore ineligible under the Lanham Act for status in the federal trademark registry. The appeal board had been petitioned by five Native American activists, including Amanda Blackhorse, a Navajo Nation member from Arizona who is well known for leading protests against the team outside stadiums wherever it plays.


[U.S. patent office cancels Redskins trademark registrations, saying name is disparaging to Native Americans]

The Redskins tried to overturn the appeal board’s ruling in August by suing Blackhorse and the four other Native American activists in federal court in Alexandria, Va. The team argued that the Lanham Act conflicted with its First Amendment rights. It also contended that Blackhorse didn’t prove that enough Native Americans opposed the name at the time the team registered its trademarks in 1967, 1974, 1978 and 1990.

VIEW GRAPHIC
Where notable people stand on the Redskins’ name
A Washington Redskins spokesman said the team is reviewing the decision and considering its legal options.

Jesse Witten, one of the attorneys for the Native Americans, celebrated the judge’s ruling.


“This is a huge victory. Getting this ruling from a U.S. District judge is a watershed event,” Witten said, adding that he doesn’t expect the war to be over anytime soon. “The team has been fighting this case so hard and leaving no stone unturned and scorching every square inch of earth that it’s hard to imagine they will not appeal.”

The Redskins have been waging a legal war to defend their federal trademark registrations for more than two decades. The fight began in 1992, when a group of Native Americans led by Suzan Shown Harjo filed a petition with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to strip the team’s name of its registrations. Seven years later, the panel ruled in Harjo’s favor.

But the Redskins appealed in federal court, winning on the grounds that Harjo and the other Native Americans didn’t produce enough evidence showing the name was insulting and that they waited too long after turning 18 years old — legally adults — to claim the name is offensive.

Before that case was lost, Blackhorse and four other young Native Americans from Florida, Utah and Oklahoma had filed their own petition with the trademark appeal board in August 2006.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...d55_story.html

[2bikemike]

IIRC the 2 broads making the biggest stink about the Redskins name said something to the effect that the Chiefs name should be changed as well. I believe there was a thread on it somewhere in the bowels of the planet.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Because people on Chiefsplanet get upset by ANY change to the world in which they live.

Seriously. These mother****ers bitch more than the mother****ers they bitch about.

[ThaVirus]

To quote my dawg Pablo, or is it Brock? I swear those two are the same dude..

"The world around me is changing and I'm scared!"

[RealSNR]

I think it's more than that.

The Cardinals have also been around the NFL forever, even though they've changed cities a handful of times. If the Bidwells went crazy and were like, "We're sick of being the Cardinals, so we're getting a new name and a new brand," would anybody care?

I mean, some people would find it interesting, and it'd definitely be worth talking about, but would anybody get FURIOUSLY upset the way they do when talking about the Redskins being forced with a name change?

What's the difference between the Cardinals in this hypothetical and the Redskins? They're not teams you care about. Why go on this penis-pounding tirade where you ask ridiculous questions like, "What's so offensive about 'Redskins?"

[kcpasco]

I think it's the fact that it is the government that is telling me it's offensive. I understand why some find it offensive I just don't need the government to tell me it is.

If Snyder wants to change the name of his team then I'm all in but it shouldn't be forced.

[Gonzo]

You guys read what theisman had to say?


http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/07/joe-...caitlyn-jenner

[Brock]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

To quote my dawg Pablo, or is it Brock? I swear those two are the same dude..

"The world around me is changing and I'm scared!"

He's my mult.

[Psyko Tek]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

I suggest they change their name to the Washington Whooping Cranes.

The Washington Lairs

The Washington Lobbyist

The Washington Corporate one who sucks the peniss


any of those work for you?

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by Gonzo

You guys read what theisman had to say?


http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/07/joe-...caitlyn-jenner

“What have you really accomplished by the federal judge making his decision? You’ve taken away the name Redskins from the Redskins. But the point is, everyone else can use it then. So you really haven’t taken it out of society,” he said.

Well isn't that special

[KC native]

Originally Posted by SNR

Also, where's Rain Man?

The Ermines dream is NOT dead

I don't believe that ermines live in the Washington DC area.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by KC native

I don't believe that ermines live in the Washington DC area.

Neither do indigenous people.

[KC native]

Originally Posted by SNR

Neither do indigenous people.

They were there at one time tho. #datgenocidetho

[morphius]

I always thought they should just go with the Hogs. Fits their fans, and also fits DC with the pork reference.

[petegz28]

So the article linked in the OP shows a black man in an article about alleged racism towards Native Americans....

I'm so confused

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by petegz28

So the article linked in the OP shows a black man in an article about alleged racism towards Native Americans....

I'm so confused

I know, it makes no sense. Get a load of this...some white people were against slavery and some non-Jews are bothered when they see anti-Semitism. Some heteros don't agree with discrimination against gays.
Crazy world.