Patent Office Cancels Redskins Trademark

[Geilinor]

If anything, this thread has shown using racial slurs on your team's name is pretty funny.

I second this, although, i don't find racial slurs too funny.

Even though, Negro is the Spanish word for Black, so i wouldn't necessarily consider that offensive.

It's offensive in the American usage of it and implies that black Americans are foreign.

[Ifreann]

It's by no means a minor matter though. That said these things to tend to be a bit more specialized (hence it going though the federal circuit court), that said make it about speech and money and the SCOTUS is all over that.

It is a minor matter. The Redskins haven't been banned from using the name.

But racists are upset. America must make this a priority!

[Yumyumsuppertime]

No, it isn't. Nobody is stating that they cannot call the team whatever they want.



No.



You cannot trademark terms that are patently offensive. This is basic law, and has been for some years now.



Doubtful that the NFL will think that it's worth the expense.

Wouldn't the team owner be the one to have standing to sue here though? As I recall he's been pretty defensive and touchy about the name, I can easily see him suing just to prove a point.

Also the term wasn't actually widely considered offensive at the time. Heck there's plenty of terms that used to be merely "quaint" that have since become offensive, but I would think that given the age it would be "grandfathered in". That said, though its clearly no longer a "name brand " trademark anymore and now is just a generic (and racist term) and that can cause it to lose its status as a registered mark.

I think that it's the NFL that owns the trademark. I'm sure that someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

[Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un]

I feel that the Texans patent should be revoked now

[The Emerald Dragon]

I second this, although, i don't find racial slurs too funny.

Even though, Negro is the Spanish word for Black, so i wouldn't necessarily consider that offensive.

It's offensive in the American usage of it and implies that black Americans are foreign.

Ah, you Americans.

Anyway, here in Britain, we call cigarettes 'fags' so, um...

[Geilinor]

I feel that the Texans patent should be revoked now

"Texan" isn't disparaging.

[Yumyumsuppertime]

I feel that the Texans patent should be revoked now

Texan is an offensive term?

I mean, it is to me, but people who are actually from Texas seem to take a bizarre pride in it.

[Keyboard Warriors]

I feel that the Texans patent should be revoked now

Texan is an offensive term?

I mean, it is to me, but people who are actually from Texas seem to take a bizarre pride in it.

I'd be outraged if I was called a Texan.

[Gaelic Celtia]

It's offensive in the American usage of it and implies that black Americans are foreign.

Ah, you Americans.

Anyway, here in Britain, we call cigarettes 'fags' so, um...

But its a colloquial term not a trademark

[Greed and Death]

SCOTUS has far more important things to do than deal with minor matters of patent and trademark law.

It's by no means a minor matter though. That said these things to tend to be a bit more specialized (hence it going though the federal circuit court), that said make it about speech and money and the SCOTUS is all over that.

I have read an argument that it is about speech

[Geilinor]

It's by no means a minor matter though. That said these things to tend to be a bit more specialized (hence it going though the federal circuit court), that said make it about speech and money and the SCOTUS is all over that.

I have read an argument that it is about speech

Sauce?

[Ifreann]

I have read an argument that it is about speech

Sauce?

everythinggreedanddeathsaysisalie.org

[Northwest Slobovia]

Oh yeah. Assuming it isn't reversed at a lower court, I'm pretty sure that SCOTUS will at least grant cert to hear the case. I'd say they lean toward reversing after all the the reverse of "money is speech "is that "speech is money".

SCOTUS has far more important things to do than deal with minor matters of patent and trademark law.

I'm just glad that Native Americans SCOTUS have nothing more important to worry abouit than the name of a football team.*
*Sarcasm. Heavy sarcasm.

Awfully racist ageist of you to imply that Native Americans SCOTUS are collectively incapable of doing more than one thing at a time. Awfully racist ageist.

More seriously, what is a "minor matter" of law is precisely the question of them granting cert. If they think there's something more to it than an agency's routine behavior, they'll take a look. I don't know if they will, but I wouldn't rule it out categorically.

[Cannot think of a name]

Now they can think of a real name.

Don't look at me...

[United Dependencies]

Now they can think of a real name.

Don't look at me...

I don't know, it would be alliterative, which I have always considered the foundation of a good name.

[GraySoap]

So if the trademark is cancelled, does that mean I can call my team the Redskins now? SWEET!

[Revanchism]

So if the trademark is cancelled, does that mean I can call my team the Redskins now? SWEET!

Yes, you can. And so can just about everyone else.

[Geilinor]

So if the trademark is cancelled, does that mean I can call my team the Redskins now? SWEET!

Yes, you can. And so can just about everyone else.

Most people seem to have more sense than the owner of the Redskins.

[Dakini]

Soon, I should think. I have to say, I'm amazed, I really didn't think this would happen.

It seems like Cleveland's trying to retire the offensive image as the hats have changed to having a large C instead of that grinning mascot.

For the Indians, it's not their mascot, it's the logo (their mascot is some purple fuzzy muppet thing), but yeah, the team ownership is quietly making the C logo more and more common. I think the only reason they're not doing it all at once or loudly is that they don't want to freak out the fans.

[Northwest Slobovia]

Some information from Reuters (heavily elided):

...

The Patent Office tribunal found that at least 30 percent of Native Americans found the name "Redskins" disparaging from 1967 to 1990, when the trademarks were registered.

"Petitioners have shown by a preponderance of the evidence that a substantial composite of Native Americans found the term REDSKINS to be disparaging in connection with respondent’s services during the relevant time frame," the decision said.

The ruling does not mean that the trademarks can no longer be used by the National Football League club, only that they are no longer registered. The trademark protection remains until appeals are completed.

The decision strips the franchise of legal presumption of ownership and the ability to use the federal trademark symbol and block importation of counterfeit Redskins goods.

Bob Raskopf, a trademark attorney for the Redskins, said the club would appeal the ruling to federal court. He said the case was the same as one in which the tribunal canceled the Redskins' trademarks in 1999.

A court overturned that decision on appeal, saying the petitioners had waited too long to assert their rights after the first Redskins' trademark was issued in 1967.

...

The decision drew praise from the Oneida Indian Nation and the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), which have campaigned against the name.

The ruling will prompt a name change "if only because it imperils the ability of the team’s billionaire owner to keep profiting off the denigration and dehumanization of Native Americans," Oneida Indian Nation Representative Ray Halbritter and NCAI Executive Director Jackie Pata said in a statement.

...

So, if the 'skins lawyer is to be believed, the case is DOA in appelate court. No idea if that's correct or not, but it's interesting because it suggests that the decision is of even less significance than I'd thought.

I think Halbritter and Pata hit the nail on the head WRT the team changing its name: only if it interferes with the money-making. I sorta doubt that's gonna happen.

[Nazi Flower Power]

People said "nigger" all the time back then. It would be highly frowned upon today. Society has changed over time.

Society has changed but not necessarily for the better. As a modern society we have embraced a lot of perversions.

The word nigger is not a bad word. I'm going to say it without putting quote marks around it, because that just implies reluctance to type it.

Or it could imply an understanding of punctuation.

That word is not a bad word. My great grandma once said of an adopted baby boy in our family "let me see that nigger baby".

Back then an offensive word was "black person", today the offensive word is nigger. It's been switched around and no one has explained why. I would say it is the tidal wave of political correctness, or should I say cultural Marxism which has forced people to fret about offending someone whenever they open their mouth to speak.

Playboy may not be offensive to most Americans, but it is definitely offensive to the Lord Jesus Christ. I would advocate denying trademarks to the fruitcake pornographic media industry. They don't have any rights after all, pornography promotes lawlessness and lawlessness is not protected free speech.

wut?

[Nazi Flower Power]

I feel that the Texans patent should be revoked now

Texan is an offensive term?

I mean, it is to me, but people who are actually from Texas seem to take a bizarre pride in it.

I'd be offended if someone called me a Texan. Even if I lived in Texas.

[Grenartia]

I have two ideas.

1: They change their brand to the Continentals, including changing their mascot to a Revolutionary War soldier.

2: Move the Patriots to DC, and give New England a new team called the Pilgrims.

[Seattile]

I think the United States is a strange place. The government allows the free speech of Neo Nazis and other hate groups. These very same people are protected by the same laws, would be more then happy to get rid of these laws so other people can suffer. The USA is one of the few "1st world" countries where Neo-Nazism is allowed. But they don't like a sports team having the name "Redskins".

[Geilinor]

I think the United States is a strange place. The government allows the free speech of Neo Nazis and other hate groups. These very same people are protected by the same laws, would be more then happy to get rid of these laws so other people can suffer. The USA is one of the few "1st world" countries where Neo-Nazism is allowed. But they don't like a sports team having the name "Redskins".

What makes you think the government would let you trademark the Nazi swastika?