The Washington Redskins' controversial logo and name have been brought to the forefront of public debate once again after the United States Patent Office issued a ruling that revoked 6 of the team's trademarks, calling the name and logo "disparaging" to Native Americans.
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, part of the U.S. Patent Office's legal framework, issued the ruling Tuesday to the surprise of many nationwide observes. Native American activists applauded the ruling.
The Washington Redskins' name has been the subject of Patent Office rulings before. In 1992, the Office similarly revoked the teams trademarks, but the case was tied up in appeals until 2005, when a federal judge in the District of Colombia ruled that the evidence did not support revocation and that the original plaintiffs had waited too long to bring suit.
However in 2012, Amy Blackhorse brought a similar suit against Pro Football, Inc. corporate parent of the Washington Redskins, which eventually lead to Tuesday's ruling.
"It is a great victory for Native Americans and all Americans," Blackhorse said.
The Oxford English Dictionary notes that the term was originally neutral, but it "lost it's neutral, accurate descriptive sense and became a term of disparagement."
While the ruling does not prohibit the team from continuing to use their name, it would allow counterfeit merchandise to be sold with relative ease as the Redskins would not longer retain exclusive use of their name or logo. Additionally, there will be no hindrance on the Redskins trademarks until all appeals have been heard, which could take several years.
Snyder appears to be set in his ways. Snyder himself offered no comment, but the team spoke through their Trademark attorney Bob Raskopf, who issued a harshly worded response to the ruling. The statement reads in part: "We are confident we will prevail once again, and that the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s divided ruling will be overturned on appeal. This case is no different than an earlier case, where the Board cancelled the Redskins’ trademark registrations, and where a federal district court disagreed and reversed the Board."
However, pressure appears to be mounting from both the public and government officials for Redskin's owner Dan Snyder to change the team's name and logo. Half of the United States senate wrote to Snyder directly to implore him to adopt a new team brand, name, and logo. Additionally, public outcry condemning the name and logo has grown in recent years.
The board's 2- ruling noted that “the recognition that this racial designation based on skin color is disparaging to Native Americans” is demonstrated “by the near complete dropoff in usage of ‘redskins’ as a reference to Native Americans beginning in the 1960's."
The Redskin's are expected to appeal the ruling.
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