Washington ‘Redskins’ trademark denied registration by U.S. Patent Office

Amanda Blackhorse, one of the five Native Americans being sued, released a statement following the filing of the lawsuit on Thursday. She says that the effort is “doomed to fail,” and that Washington is simply seeking to “prolong this litigation, which has already gone on for 22 years.”

Blackhorse goes on to say that various dictionaries say that the team name is a term used in “a disparaging way to refer to Native Americans.” Her full statement is below:

Brad Newberg: The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) decided that six Redskins trademarks, which had been issued by the PTO between 1967 and 1990, should be canceled because the marks are disparaging to Native Americans. The marks include the term “REDSKINS” in various forms and designs, as well as a WASHINGTON REDSKINS logo including the Native American face that we are familiar with on Redskins helmets.

What was the rationale for the ruling?

BN: The TTAB had to decide two main issues: Was the meaning of “REDSKINS” in terms of how the mark is used by the team a reference to Native Americans? And, is the meaning of the marks one that may disparage Native Americans? Importantly, to cancel the marks, the TTAB had to find that the answer to both questions was “yes” at the time the mark was registered, as opposed to as of 2014. The TTAB did not have much difficulty with the first question given how much Native American imagery the team has used in the past, including in a couple of the marks/logos themselves.

At NFLshop.com, t-shirts are selling for $40. This is not because the shirt is especially nice and certainly not because it is exceptionally rare, but only because it has a team name and logo on it, and the only people who are legally allowed to use that name and that logo set the prices. After a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board hearing on Wednesday morning ruled that the “Redskins” moniker used by Washington is disparaging, the NFL may lose their ability to put a pricetag and a wildly offensive nickname on some clothing and count the cash.

The legal process is far from over. An attorney for the team said in a statement following the decision that they would appeal the Office’s decision to federal court, where no new evidence can be brought in but legal questions surrounding the case can be re-argued. The federal court can choose to not hear the case at all (deferring to Wednesday’s decision) or hear the case and side with either the Native Americans or the NFL.

Raskopf’s confidence is based on a 2003 decision by a by a federal judge to overturn a 1999 ruling by the U.S. PTO that stripped the Redskins of their trademark. The judge ruled, then, that “the [Board’s] finding that the marks at issue ‘may disparage’ Native Americans is unsupported by substantial evidence, is logically flawed and fails to apply the correct legal standard to its own findings of fact.”

The plaintiffs behind the 2014 ruling are reportedly confident that they have substantial evidence, however. The litigation team behind Amanda Blackhorse’s complaint used “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” in its case. A few of those movie clips can be seen here.

That evidence led the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel six registrations for the name “Redskins” because it deemed the moniker to be “disparaging to Native Americans.“ The same ruling had been handed down by the office in 1992, but was overturned in court because of a lack of substantial evidence. Plaintiffs are reportedly confident that the 2014 ruling won’t meet the same fate.

So what were the damning movie clips? Mostly excerpts from old Western films. The plaintiffs used 11 clips from 10 different movies as evidence, according to the Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg, who kindly clipped a few:

The decision came from the office’s Trial and Appeal Board, in response to a case brought against the team by Amanda Blackhorse. If the ruling sticks, team owner Dan Snyder and the Redskins would, essentially, lose control of the brand, allowing anyone to use the Redskins name as they see fit for commercial gain.

In its press release, the litigation team behind Blackhorse called the decision “a milestone victory.”

-Bruce Allen, Washington GM

A letter signed by 50 United States senators to the Washington Redskins in support of changing the team’s name has fallen on deaf ears. Washington is sticking to its guns, firing off another response in record time, as noted by CBS Sports. This one is from Washington general manager Bruce Allen and addressed to Senate majority leader Harry Reid. Allen says that the Washington team name “continues to carry a deep and purposeful meaning.”

Sounds like a power move, one that will finally get Goodell and Snyder to listen to reason. It’s not, and it won’t.

The NFL responded to the story:

Notah Begay III called Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder’s new philanthropy a public relations smokescreen designed to divert attention away from the controversy surrounding his NFL team’s racist name.

Snyder’s Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation, launched last month, is “more of a gimmick” than an honest attempt to assist Native Americans, Begay, a four-time PGA Tour winner, analyst for NBC and Golf Channel, and Tiger Woods’ good friend, told USAToday on Tuesday.

The entire San Juan River valley spreads out in three directions from the southern tip of Cedar Mesa in Utah. Every now and then you can see the mountains in Colorado where the river starts, standing behind Mesa Verde. To the South, the iconic rocks of Monument Valley rise out of the red dirt. A few thin lines of two-lane roads go over the valley floor, taking tourists closer to the wild places they remember from the movies.

But you can’t always see that far from Muley Point on Cedar Mesa. Most of the time, there’s a haze hanging over the valley, blurring out the mountains and monuments. Most people that drive through this part of the country to see these places don’t ever notice the Navajo Generating Station in Page, AZ, belching out smoke to keep the lights on in Las Vegas.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) plan to send a joint letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday requesting the league “to take a formal position in support of a name change,” the Washington Post reports.

Write Cantwell and Cole:

After President Obama said he would consider changing the name of the Washington Redskins, a San Francisco design company held a contest to see who could come up with the best new name and logo for the franchise.

After thousands of votes were cast online, a Washington Warriors idea was named the winner. It was designed by Serbian freelance designer Milan Milosevic. The new logo kept the same burgundy and gold colors with the Pentagon enclosing the Washington Monument.

An excerpt:

The letter also cites many of the same statistics that the organization has cited before -- namely, an Annenberg poll that found that 90 percent of self-identified Native Americans did not find “Redskins” offensive and an Associated Press poll that found that nearly 80 percent of those polled do not believe the name should be changed.

The team is deciding to address the President’s comments head-on. On Saturday, the Redskins released a statement regarding the Commander-in-Chief’s desire to see the name changed. The release features the information drawn from two polls, one recent and one from nearly a decade ago, as well as Obama’s rooting interest in the similarly-named Chicago Blackhawks.

Here is what the Redskins had to say about the President’s remarks regarding the franchise’s name:

Owner Dan Snyder has vowed to never change the name, but it has drawn a growing amount of criticism in recent months. Members of Congress have called for a change, and a handful of media outlets no longer use the name. Commissioner Roger Goodell has also shifted his position, saying that the league should listen to people offended by the name. Opponents of the name plan to hold a rally outside the NFL’s Monday meeting in Washington.

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