June 23, 2014
DC Football Team Loses Trademarks, Name Ruled to be Racist
Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Richmond Free Press
(TriceEdneyWire.com) - That racist nickname has been tackled for another loss.The latest setback for the Washington professional football team: The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has canceled the federal trademarks held by the D.C. team on the name.
“We decide. … 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.”
Speculation that the decision could prod billionaire owner Daniel Snyder to consider a name change appears to be as solidly grounded as the notion that the moon is made of green cheese. He already has vowed to appeal the decision and expects to win. He’s fended off calls to change the name for the last 14 years, vowing never to do so.
The team has had its nickname since the 1930s and first registered the name as a trademark in 1967. Without a registered trademark, the D.C. team would be unable to protect its brand name or retain the exclusive rights to sell merchandise with the team name and logo.
The financial hit likely would be in the tens of millions of dollars annually.The D.C. team made $2.5 million at last year’s training camp in Richmond, mostly through merchandise sales.Five Native American citizens petitioned the patent office to overturn the team’s six registered trademarks.The named plaintiff in Blackwell v. Pro Football Inc.is Amanda Blackhorse, a Navajo and psychiatric social worker.
“It is a great victory for Native Americans and for all Americans,” Ms. Blackhorse stated. “I hope this ruling brings us a step closer to that inevitable day when the name of the Washington football team would be changed.”The plaintiffs had largely made the same argument as those who filed a trademark suit in 1992. The Patent Office canceled the trademarks in 1999, but the decision was overturned on appeal to federal court. A judge ruled that the petitioners had waited 25 years too long to challenge the trademark.The team is confident the latest decision also will be overturned on appeal.
“We’ve seen this story before,” team attorney Bob Raskopf said in a statement issued shortly after the ruling was announced Wednesday.“And just like last time, today’s ruling will have no effect at all on the team’s ownership and of the right to use the (racist mascot’s) name and logo,” he added. “We are confident we will prevail once again.” The plaintiffs believe that the current decision is based on appropriate grounds that will be upheld. Raymond H. Boone, the late Free Press editor/publisher,was the first newspaper owner in Virginia to ban the use of the D.C. team’s racist nickname from his paper’s news and editorial columns.He announced the ban last year.
President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and 50 other U.S. senators are among others who have blasted the racist nickname. Sen. Reid said this week he would never attend another home football game until the team changes a name that he calls a racial slur.