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http://thinkprogress.org/default/2014/06/18/3450333/in-landmark-decision-us-patent-office-cancels-trademark-for-redskins-football-team/ 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. PTO’s 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 team’s 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.” “I am extremely happy that the [Board] ruled in our favor,” Blackhorse 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. The team’s name is racist and derogatory. I’ve said it before and I will say it again – if people wouldn’t dare call a Native American a ‘redskin’ because they know it is offensive, how can an NFL football team have this name?” The Trial and Appeals Board previously rescinded the team’s trademark protections as part of a case filed in 1992. A federal court later overturned the ruling on appeal due to a technicality that the plaintiffs say has been fixed in this most recent case.
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Jun 18, 2014 15:03
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Initial thoughts: 
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Jun 18, 2014 15:04
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Thauros posted:Doesn't this mean you could legally make and sell bootleg Redskins t-shirts now? I believe so! But Snyder will appeal this, and during that (I have no idea, unemployed lawyers help) the court will probably put an injunction against the sale of items until that appeal is heard.
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Jun 18, 2014 15:15
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Ozu posted:Still laughing at the patent office being the ones that will force a name change. It did almost happen back in the 90's, but the case was thrown out on a technicality.
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Jun 18, 2014 15:16
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So if I'm reading this right, the original case against the name was filed in 1992, Washington lost, but won on appeal on a technicality in 1999, and then this most recent case was filed in 2006. That's pretty impressively slow.
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Jun 18, 2014 15:22
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Here's the money shot from the brief:quote:The recognition that this racial designation based on skin color is disparaging to Native Americans is also demonstrated by the near complete drop-off in usage of "redskins" as a reference to Native Americans beginning in the 1960's. This just raises more questions. Is some polling company just cold calling people and asking if they find terms offensive?
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Jun 18, 2014 15:51
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WugLyfe posted:It'll be just like the New York The WPS also had a team named the magicJack.
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Jun 18, 2014 15:58
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effectual posted:
Side note, this was from the '95 pro bowl, when the NFL was trying to kick off a leaguewide mascot change to try and market to kids. They then rolled out these weird new mascot costumes at the pro bowl, where they looked like garbage, and so they were mostly scrapped:  No idea what the Washington one was called. Just GIS 1995 Pro Bowl Mascots if you want to see the horror show.
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Jun 18, 2014 17:08
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Its Miller Time posted:Quick scan of twitter is telling me this isn't that popular outside these walls. A lot of the phrasing is "82 years in, US GOVERNMENT patent office steals PRIVATE BUSINESSES trademark in gross abuse of FEDERAL power, orwell 1984, political correctness, Nazi's". If this lasts it's gonna be a redneck issue for decades. I don't even know how the US Patent Office would investigate Benghazi but they probably should've been doing that.
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Jun 18, 2014 17:25
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bewbies posted:Don't know if any of the other ones are still alive but KC Wolf is still around and owns hard. Yeah, KC Wolf predated it and was just used, and a few others ended up being used in various incarnations like the Cowboys and 49'ers ones. The Saints also took the dog, revamped it and renamed it Gumbo.
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Jun 18, 2014 19:09
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There is a push from some groups to drop all Native American mascot / team names under the Not your mascot initiative, but that has generally less or mixed support then the really obvious two targets. At the least teams should probably think about stopping people from dressing like extras from old Looney Tunes if they want to try arguing about it being a tribute.
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Jun 27, 2014 06:53
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commy gun posted:Hey guys lets stop bitching about the lovely poster and just report him en masse so he'll go away. Cool. Eh, he's a dumbass who you guys spent the last two pages calling a dumbass, and it's dried up. Works for me.
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Jun 30, 2014 01:42
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| # ¿ May 11, 2024 17:22 |
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Yeah, I think on that note, until *something* actually happens, I'm going to lock this.
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Jun 30, 2014 02:42
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