Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrademark Board Rules 'Redskins' Name Disparages Native Americans - Cancels Patents!!
Think Progress:The United States Patent and Trademark Office has canceled six federal trademark registrations for the name of the Washington Redskins, ruling that the name is disparaging to Native Americans and thus cannot be trademarked under federal law that prohibits the protection of offensive or disparaging language.
The U.S. PTOs Trademark Trial and Appeal Board issued a ruling in the case, brought against the team by plaintiff Amanda Blackhorse, Wednesday morning.
We decide, based on the evidence properly before us, that these registrations must be cancelled because they were disparaging to Native Americans at the respective times they were registered, the board wrote in its opinion, .
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board agreed with our clients that the teams name and trademarks disparage Native Americans. The Board ruled that the Trademark Office should never have registered these trademarks in the first place, Jesse Witten, the plaintiffs lead attorney, said in a press release. We presented a wide variety of evidence including dictionary definitions and other reference works, newspaper clippings, movie clips, scholarly articles, expert linguist testimony, and evidence of the historic opposition by Native American groups to demonstrate that the word redskin is an ethnic slur.
The team will almost certainly appeal the case, and it will be able to keep its trademark protection during appeal. Losing the trademark would not force the team to change its name, but it would allow anyone who wanted to use Redskins on merchandise or through other means to do so, which could cost the team and, because of the NFLs revenue-sharing model, other NFL teams every imaginable loss you can think of, as the teams lawyers argued in the original case. For that reason, the trademark has long been thought of by opponents of the teams name as the easiest avenue to changing it.
read more: http://thinkprogress.org/sports/2014/06/18/3450333/in-landmark-decision-us-patent-office-cancels-trademark-for-redskins-football-team/
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
4 replies, 675 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (4)
ReplyReply to this post
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Trademark Board Rules 'Redskins' Name Disparages Native Americans - Cancels Patents!! (Original Post)
bigtree
Jun 2014
OP
aka-chmeee
(1,132 posts)1. Ridiculous....Can the Vikings be far behind? nt
bigtree
(85,977 posts)2. it's going down
. . . the name is all about the money. Nothing illustrates that more than the way this will play out now. If Snyder loses the appeal, he'll change it or forfeit the profits from knock-offs of his team merchandise.
. . . all about the money now; just as it ever was.
fishwax
(29,148 posts)4. not particularly comparable nt
fishwax
(29,148 posts)3. sweet n/t