For the last 80 years, Washington’s football team has been known as the Redskins. 
Last week, the USPTO officially cancelled the trademark registrations on the grounds that the marks are “disparaging to Native Americans.” In my opinion, this decision is coming down a little late. I mean, I can’t help but notice that it seems like the USPTO is basing the timing of this opinion on current political debates rather than the letter of the law.
The law hasn’t changed, nor has the Redskins name, but for some reason the USPTO has decided to cancel the registrations now after they’ve been in use for 80 years.
Let’s rewind for a minute and go over things.
The first challenge to the Redskins name was brought in 1992. The challenge was successful: in 1999, the TTAB ruled that the name was indeed disparaging and should be changed; however, in 2003, a U.S. District Court Judge ruled that the TTAB had not adequately explained its rationale and overruled the decision. In 2009, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Redskins, but did so based on a technicality, saying the complaint should have been brought sooner.
So that settled it, right? Wrong.
In 2006, a different group brought a new challenge against the name. It is this challenge that led to the TTAB invalidating the trademark last week. Obviously, the Redskins will appeal the decision; however, ultimately I expect that they will fail and the trademarks will enter the public domain. Such a result will be disastrous for the franchise as it will inevitably cause a huge loss in profits due to others copying the mark for commercial purposes.
Although I strongly agree that the mark in this case is disparaging and offensive, I do think there should be some type of Statute of Limitations against this type of action in order to protect companies from sustaining both financial and intellectual property losses. However, in the mean time, it seems that companies need to carefully select their marks and have a greater level of forward thinking in order to avoid this happening to them.
It will be interesting to see what arguments are made on appeal and how the USPTO cleverly overcomes them all, or alternatively, how the matter is further prolonged. In the mean time, I’ll continue getting my football fix every week on the flag football field! Have a great week!