Press Release: STATEMENT BY THE WASHINGTON REDSKINS ON APPEAL OF TRADEMARK DECISION

[TK]

For Immediate Release

August 14, 2014

STATEMENT BY THE WASHINGTON REDSKINS ON APPEAL OF TRADEMARK DECISION

LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. – The following is a statement by the Washington Redskins on the filing of its appeal related to the decision of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s action concerning the team name:

Today the Washington Redskins NFL team filed its appeal of the split decision of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the “Board”) ordering cancellation of the Washington Redskins’ long-held federal trademark registrations. The appeal is in the form of a complaint, effectively starting the litigation anew, this time in a federal court before a federal judge, and not in the administrative agency that issued the recent split decision.

“We believe that the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ignored both federal case law and the weight of the evidence, and we look forward to having a federal court review this obviously flawed decision,” said Bob Raskopf, trademark attorney for the Washington Redskins.

The Washington Redskins’ complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, explains why the Court should reverse the Board’s order and properly find that Native Americans did not consider the team name “Washington Redskins” to be disparaging during the relevant time frame of 1967-1990. While the complaint points out the many errors in the Board’s decision, the federal judge may disregard the Board’s decision entirely in conducting its own independent evaluation of the evidence.

The complaint also asks the federal court to consider the serious Constitutional issues that the Board lacked the authority to address. Specifically, by cancelling valuable, decades-old registrations, the Board improperly penalized the Washington Redskins based on the content of the team’s speech in violation of the First Amendment. The complaint also alleges that the team has been unfairly deprived of its valuable and long-held intellectual property rights in violation of the Fifth Amendment.

“The Washington Redskins look forward to all of the issues in the case being heard in federal court under the federal rules of evidence. The team is optimistic that the court will correctly and carefully evaluate the proofs, listen to the arguments, and confirm the validity of the Washington Redskins’ federal trademark registrations, just as another federal court has already found in a virtually identical case,” Raskopf said.

While the case is in federal court, the Washington Redskins’ federal trademark registrations remain in full force and effect. As always, the Washington Redskins has the right to use its marks and to enforce them against infringers and counterfeiters.

[DC9]

A visual aide as to how this will pan out...

 

[Chachie]

A visual aide as to how this will pan out...

 

 

 

 

 

Wait... Are we Auburn?

[DC9]

Wait... Are we Auburn?

 

Yes.  And see those DBs?

 

If you look closely, that's UnWise Mike and Harbitter.

[roanoker]

Yes.  And see those DBs?

 

If you look closely, that's UnWise Mike and Harbitter.

 

Damn, I thought the one falling down looked a lot like Bob Costas.

[SBboundbaby]

I live in az, this was on the az central web site.

 

for some reason I cant copy and paste. but the Navajo lady Blackhorse has some things up her sleeve according to what she says. she and her team were ready for this move, and apparently are looking forward to the trial.

 

this whole thing really gets my stomach upset.

 

sbb

[sparkosaurus]

I'm not sure what will happen, but when the last challenge got tossed in 1999 it was on a technicality....the petitioners had "waited too long" to file their complaint and apparently they needed younger petitioners... If that's all they needed to get back in the game, why did it take 14 years?

Irrespective of whether you want to keep or change the name (or if you're ambivalent) isn't that something that should be known? It just makes me think there's more to the motive...

HTTR

[StephenDavis]

Name is changing unfortunately. Just hope we at least keep the logo.

[elkabong82]

I'm not sure what will happen, but when the last challenge got tossed in 1999 it was on a technicality....the petitioners had "waited too long" to file their complaint and apparently they needed younger petitioners... If that's all they needed to get back in the game, why did it take 14 years?

Irrespective of whether you want to keep or change the name (or if you're ambivalent) isn't that something that should be known? It just makes me think there's more to the motive...

HTTR

 

The "technicality" was the 2nd reason listed in the case conclusions. The first reason cited was.... insufficient evidence. 14 years later and the evidence hasn't changed. 

[Xameil]

It is? Wow you must have some hot inside information.

[throwback37]

I live in az, this was on the az central web site.

 

for some reason I cant copy and paste. but the Navajo lady Blackhorse has some things up her sleeve according to what she says. she and her team were ready for this move, and apparently are looking forward to the trial.

 

this whole thing really gets my stomach upset.

 

sbb

 

I think this is the link you were referring to.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2014/08/14/washington-nfl-team-sues-trademark-cancellation/14071267/?hootPostID=0fb017d78667ac3b637e31134d5a59a7

 

In the article, they make the "dictionary says it's a slur, therefore it's a slur" case.  It also does say they anticipated this move and have some surprises for the Redskins. 

[Paul Cumberland]

not for nothing, i'm a bit surprised TK posted this in the stadium....

[Burgold]

The case that was presented and ruled was interesting in that it had a younger claimant, but no new evidence presented. That was according to the patent attorney I interviewed when this happened.  Moreover, it is phenomenal in as grumpy a society as we live in that the Agency reported due to a FOIA response that in forty years no one had ever filed a complaint against the trademark... not even Mike Foolish. Certainly, no Native American Groups.

 

The other thing the lawyer said that I found interesting is that you have to prove that the trademark is offensive not today, but that it was offensive when it was filed.  That makes the subsequent cases against it difficult.  What did they find today about 1967 or so that they didn't know in 1999?

 

Seems a difficult decision to uphold and I suspect it will be overturned on appeal again unless the Redskins blow it.

[PerryMason]

Name is changing unfortunately. Just hope we at least keep the logo.

 

Not as long as Dan owns the team and Goodell is commissioner.

[aussieskin]

so if we do have to change the name does that fall on to the Chiefs, the Braves and the Indians as well as the other teams around the USA that are synomynous with American Natives, I do find it interesting that it is the white and the African Americans doing all the complaining and not the American Natives, this is a storm in a teacup, i just get the feeling that isnt right especially in my Australian way of looking at things

[autoidiodyssey]

so if we do have to change the name does that fall on to the Chiefs, the Braves and the Indians as well as the other teams around the USA that are synomynous with American Natives, I do find it interesting that it is the white and the African Americans doing all the complaining and not the American Natives, this is a storm in a teacup, i just get the feeling that isnt right especially in my Australian way of looking at things

 

The people pushing this have already hinted that the Chiefs are next if they win. Their goal is to remove all Native American imagery from all sports. We are just the easiest target. 

[PerryMason]

so if we do have to change the name does that fall on to the Chiefs, the Braves and the Indians as well as the other teams around the USA that are synomynous with American Natives, I do find it interesting that it is the white and the African Americans doing all the complaining and not the American Natives, this is a storm in a teacup, i just get the feeling that isnt right especially in my Australian way of looking at things

 

Some Native Americans surmise that the removal of Native American imagery from sports is apart of a larger effort to further erase Native Americans from society in general, as we have been doing for hundreds of years now.  It wouldn't surprise me if true since you see a grand total of 1 Native American group driving this.  And if it is true, that is sad.

[StephenDavis]

so if we do have to change the name does that fall on to the Chiefs, the Braves and the Indians as well as the other teams around the USA that are synomynous with American Natives, I do find it interesting that it is the white and the African Americans doing all the complaining and not the American Natives, this is a storm in a teacup, i just get the feeling that isnt right especially in my Australian way of looking at things

What really bothers me is African American media "Wilbon" thinking that because they are minority they can have free range on this topic. Redskin is not even on the same planet compared to the N word and yet media have linked the two words together without any basis whatsoever. The name will fall one day because unfortunately the media runs the world and people no longer have the capability to do research and think for themselves.

[StephenDavis]

The people pushing this have already hinted that the Chiefs are next if they win. Their goal is to remove all Native American imagery from all sports. We are just the easiest target. 

If it has taken them this long and they still have not succeeded in getting rid of our name it will take even longer to get rid of the other names related to Native American imagery. I could see them going after the Cleveland Indians logo next though, that should be a slam dunk.

[RedskinsInFebruary]

 

In the article, they make the "dictionary says it's a slur, therefore it's a slur" case.  It also does say they anticipated this move and have some surprises for the Redskins. 

Dictionaries are living documents and must evolve.  Also, the best dictionaries describe how words are actually used in language rather than prescribe how they should be used.  Many words have multiple meanings or senses listed; Redskins--the NFL team--is not the same entity as redskin the slur, further belied by the fact a team would not refer to themselves as a slur.

[SkinsGuy]

Name is changing unfortunately.

No, it's not.

Synder has vowed he isn't changing the name.

Certainly not anytime soon. The Redskins still have trademark protection while the appeal process goes forth, and the appeal process could take years. The courts do not move swiftly.

[Boss_Hogg]

LOL, cancelling the trademarks will just flood the market with more of the "offensive" Redskins apparel.

 

I thought y'alls mission was to eradicate all references to the 'Washington Football team"?

 

Idiots.

[Paul Cumberland]

not for nothing, but kinda surprised this topic was brought to the stadium...

[Glenn X]

[...] The name will fall one day because unfortunately the media runs the world and people no longer have the capability to do research and think for themselves.

 

This is why I'm not sanguine about the nickname's prospects over the long term.  The Mike Unwises and Bathtub Boys have figured out that if you relentlessly drive a meme (e.g. "redskins = n*****s"), no matter how factually-challenged said meme is, eventually many will say to themselves, "Hey, I've heard a lot about this thing being bad and bigoted; so there must be something to it."  That's how propaganda works, and the anti-Redskins crowd is masterful at it.

 

Like you, SD, if we keep the current logo (which was not affected by the USPTO's silly, now-appealed ruling) and change the nickname to Warriors (a la my hometown's Western High School Warriors), I could happily live with that outcome.  Even though the lunatic fringe will try, the word Warriors is virtually impossible to be twisted into a racial epithet, meaning the team could plausibly attempt to get back to just playing football.

 

However, I don't see that occurring any time soon.  Just as I don't see this litigation being resolved expeditiously.

[ExoDus84]

In the words of a great man...

 

"...fight on, fight on, till you have won. Sons of Washington."

 

I'm confident once the bull**** settles and the PC bandwagon breaks a wheel, the name will live on.