So, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has cancelled the Washington football club’s trademark registration. While the legalese will likely dull some of the shock waves surrounding the decision (and no change to the name is likely coming soon), make no mistake; this is a huge step towards the inevitable changing of the team’s name.
The USPTO reached its ruling by examining two points of contention:
a. What is the meaning of the matter in question, as it appears in the marks and as those marks are used in connection with the goods and services identified in the registrations?
b. Is the meaning of the marks one that may disparage Native Americans?
The first matter is rather easily reached. “Redskins” is a term to describe Native Americans, as evidenced not only by historical usage of the term but also by the goods and services which the Washington Redskins sell. The logo is an actual Native American. There’s no getting around the connection. Heck, Dan Snyder has embraced that connection.
As for the second line of thought, the Patent Office had this to say:
The question is only as to the second prong, whether the term is disparaging… In other words, respondent’s alleged honorable intent and manner of use of the term do not contribute to the determination of whether a substantial composite of the referenced group found REDSKINS to be a disparaging term in the context of respondent’s services during the time period 1967-1990, because the services have not removed the Native American meaning from the term and intent does not affect the second prong. If it is found to be disparaging during the relevant time period, then the Trademark Act mandates removal from the register.
This is the main point. What this paragraph of jargon is actually saying is that it doesn’t matter if Dan Snyder screams till his face is blue that the term “Redskin” is a term of endearment or honor. The owner of the Washington-based NFL team does not get to decide what is disparaging and offensive and what is not. After that, one has to only look at the historical record to show that the term is racist and the decision to remove the trademark was essentially a slam dunk for the USPTO (as they spend well over a hundred pages laying out in their decision).
What this all means is that the Washington-based NFL team no longer have the protection afforded a trademark, which is huge for a business that makes a ton of money selling trademarked merchandise. Snyder can always sue people who are busy making “unofficial” Washington products but he’ll face a tough battle in court without the official trademark backing him up. There’s also the basic fact that it will be neigh impossible to stop everyone from making “RG III SUX” shirts with an official logo.
And while the Washington Football Club can appeal, it will do so from the perspective of knowing that Native American groups think the name is racist, highly visible public figures think the name is racist and now the US Federal Government officially thinks that the name is racist. The team is out of options at this point and Dan Snyder looks like he’s a man on an island.
Expect the NFL to start gently applying pressure on Snyder here. If there’s one thing that will cause the NFL to act on something, it’s money and a football club losing its trademark is just the sort of thing that will cause the NFL to act.
Hopefully, this will all be over soon.
