WASHINGTON REDSKINS GET TRADEMARK CANCELLED DUE TO RACIST NAME AND PRESSURE TO CHANGE IT

WASHINGTON REDSKINS

Could this be the domino that eventually leads to the Washington Redskins changing their name?

On Wednesday morning, the United States Patent and Trademark Office announced the cancellation of the Washington Redskins’ trademark registration, saying the team’s name is “disparaging to Native Americans.”

The ruling does not mean the Redskins have to change the name of the team, but presents a significant financial disincentive. It hampers the team’s (and the NFL’s) ability to make money from merchandising because it opens the field for others to legally use the name.

In ruling against the team, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board wrote, “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 case, which was filed on behalf of five Native Americans, was brought against the team by Navajo activist Amanda Blackhorse, who expressed gratitude at the favorable ruling.

“I am extremely happy that the [board] ruled in our favor,” she said in a statement. “It is a great victory for Native Americans and for all Americans. We filed our petition eight years ago and it has been a tough battle ever since.

“I hope this ruling brings us a step closer to that inevitable day when the name of the Washington football team will be changed.”

Lead plaintiff’s attorney Jesse Witten also cheered the board’s decision.

“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,” he said in a statement.

So, what is the next step?

The Redskins will be allowed to continue using their trademarked name during the appeals process. With the case dating back to 1992, an appeal could take years. (The decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board is similar to one it issued in 1999.

That ruling was overturned in 2003 in large part on a technicality because the courts decided that the plaintiffs were too old.)

“This ruling – which of course we will appeal – simply addresses the team’s federal trademark registrations, and the team will continue to own and be able to protect its marks without the registrations,” said Bob Raskopf, the team’s trademark attorney, in a statement. “The registrations will remain effective while the case is on appeal.”

But it’s in another court where the team may be feeling the most heat — the court of public opinion.

As of last month, 50 US senators had written “scathing” letters to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. In October, President Barack Obama also spoke out against the team’s name: “If I were the owner of the team and I knew that there was a name of my team — even if it had a storied history — that was offending a sizable group of people, I’d think about changing it.”

Washington owner Daniel Snyder has been resolute in opposing a name change, recently calling the Redskins name “a badge of honor.”