The Most Influential Decision The Patent Office Has Made In Decades
In the latest blow to the N.F.L.’s defense of the Redskins as a team name, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, part of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, canceled the trademark registration of the name Redskins for use in connection with a professional football team, saying that “a substantial composite of Native Americans found the term Redskins to be disparaging.”
The decision was hailed by some Native American groups and members of Congress who have pressured Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the N.F.L., to force Daniel Snyder, the owner of the Redskins, to abandon the name.
The board does not have the authority to ban the use of the term, and the registration of the trademark is likely to be held intact while the team appeals, so there will be little immediate impact on sales of team merchandise.
In a statement, Bob Raskopf, a trademark lawyer for the team, said: “We’ve seen this story before. And just like last time, today’s ruling will have no effect at all on the team’s ownership of and right to use the Redskins name and logo.
“We are confident we will prevail once again, and that the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s divided ruling will be overturned on appeal.”
But if the decision is upheld on appeal, a process that could take years, others will be free to use the name and the team logo on clothing and other gear, which could lead to more Redskins merchandise on the market, not less.
Good luck there, Raskopf. Prolonging this embarrassing pantomime will only serve to make you, team owner Dan Snyder, and for that matter the NFL look even more arrogantly regressive.
And look for this ruling to set a precedent that could well trigger activists to act against other corporate entities that use racially inflammatory iconography.
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By: dave-dr-gonzo
David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.
* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.
2 responses to The Most Influential Decision The Patent Office Has Made In Decades
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Tom Ward June 18th, 2014 at 18:20
It’s a good decision but the term is quite obviously racial disparaging, so I don’t think it will have huge ramifications in other areas of business. The reason this has held on for so long is because of the people who consider it sacrilegious to change anything to do with baseball tradition. I mean, jesus people, all it is is the name that has to change, nothing else about the tradition of baseball has to change.
“Supreme Court Rejects Human-Gene Patents” – Now that was an influential decision on patents in decades.
Tom Ward June 18th, 2014 at 18:20
It’s a good decision but the term is quite obviously racial disparaging, so I don’t think it will have huge ramifications in other areas of business. The reason this has held on for so long is because of the people who consider it sacrilegious to change anything to do with baseball tradition. I mean, jesus people, all it is is the name that has to change, nothing else about the tradition of baseball has to change.
“Supreme Court Rejects Human-Gene Patents” – Now that was an influential decision on patents in decades.