Judge Orders Patent Office to Cancel Redskins Trademark Registration

Jude Lee’s ruling upholds a decision made past year by the USA Patent and Trademark Office, which called the trademarks “disparaging” and cancelled them. The judge emphasized that the team remains free to use the name as it chooses and that the ruling means only that the team loses the specific legal protections of its federal registrations.

The bitter fight has caused numerous opinions and arguments for and against the name change.

He added that the team still holds a common law trademark, and that there’s a difference between a trademark and a registered trademark.

The Washington Redskins have not directly commented on the decision as of yet.

This isn’t the first time the Redskins have had their trademark registration canceled.

A statement from Washington team president Bruce Allen said the team was surprised by the decision and indicated the team will appeal to the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond.

“This is a huge victory”.

While the ruling will prevent the organization from applying for trademarks related to the Redskins nickname on a federal level moving forward, it can still be protected by state law. But the latest ruling does not take effect until the team exhausts all potential appeals.

The Redskins attempted to overturn the ruling by suing Blackhorse and the other activists in federal court and by claiming that the Lanham Act was directly in contradiction of their First Amendment rights. He cited the fact that Native American leaders have been objecting to the name for decades, along with dictionary citations that the word is typically considered offensive. In 2014, 49 senators signed a letter to National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell saying that the “team is on the wrong side of history” and he should endorse a name change.

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The Redskins asserted that in removing the team’s trademark registration, US patent officials had left the team “without just compensation” because of the millions of dollars the team has spent in the trademark’s use, promotion, and protection.