US Federal Judge Orders Cancellation Of Redskins’ Football Team Trademark Registrations

The Washington Post reports: The Washington Redskins – an American football team – lost their biggest legal and public relations battle yet in the war over their name after a federal judge on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of the NFL team’s federal trademark registrations, opposed for decades by Native American activists who call the moniker disparaging.

Washington Redskins logo

The cancellation, hailed by Native American activists as a “huge victory,” doesn’t go into effect until the team has exhausted the appeals process in the federal court system. And Redskins President Bruce Allen vowed Wednesday that the team would appeal.

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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 it against copycat entrepreneurs.

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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 2-1 vote that the team’s moniker is offensive to Native Americans and therefore ineligible for federal trademark protection under the Lanham Act.

The full Washington Post story is available here.