Discussion for article #229552
I can’t be the only one irritated by the paid Redskins advertisements that keep popping up in the cartoon bikini model’s box from that “free” 3D imaging company.
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So we are going to sue you for being offended that we are a bunch of racists. This just looks horrible Redskins, and does not help your cause.
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I don’t understand. What is the Washington Football Team asking for in the lawsuit against these five people? How is it supposed to get them their trademark protection back?
Sounds like simple harassment to me.
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While there may be some good legal reason for the suit, which is beyond my understanding of these things, the owner is notoriously thin-skinned and impulsive, and sued a local newspaper that published an article which merely put all the negative reporting and legal issues associated with this owner in a single article. At the time of the suit, the team ominously suggested that the publication, the City Paper, would not be able to compete with the team’s deep pockets.
Self-interest (the man had some ancient trees illegally cut down to improve the view from his house!) is the only thing that seems to drive him, and money and intimidation are the tools he uses to advance that self-interest. He’s known for being petty, and this fits right in with that. He no doubt hopes to harass these folks into submission. I doubt it will work, but he probably figures a little revenge is worth it. Meanwhile, his team is a disaster on the field.
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This is nothing more than identifying the parties for an appeal of the Patent and Trademark Board’s decision. Most successful litigants would expect and demand party status on the appeal. How better to defend your win.
My question is why do the Native Americans object? Do they lack the money needed to defend the appeal? Are they afraid they are going to be smacked with the costs if the Snyder Football Team wins? Those are the questions a reporter might have asked.
"The team, which has used Redskins as part of its name since 1933, says in court papers that the patent office board was wrong and that its trademarks are proper because the term was not offensive when the trademarks were registered. "
If this is the basis of their suit, they will not get very far.
I guess then that the term nigger was not offensive during slavery, because white people thought it appropriate, and blacks didn’t mind either lest they get the lash, unless of course they were the “uppity” ones?
What a bunch of assholes. This is the their central argument, and it is specious.
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You want to know the funny part? He’s a step up from the last guy.
Ever read about Jack Kent Cooke?
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A reporter might have asked many questions that were not asked, but your list of questions don’t add substantially to the exposition. Why do they object?
…lawsuit against them should be dismissed because the team’s real dispute is with the patent office.
Do they lack the money needed to defend the appeal? Seems unlikely. There are some pretty deep pockets in the Native American world these days. (http://harrahshalloween.com/)
Are they afraid they are going to be smacked with the costs if the Snyder Football Team wins? Again, unlikely. When you go after a thin-skinned guy with a history of using a caber when a little ball peen would do, all cost related issues would have been considered beforehand.
Your questions assume that the NAs are quivering in their moccasins. I suggest they’re not. I suggest they’re grinning and saying, “Bring it on!” Ultimately, the Washington team’s owner is fighting a losing battle and going down with exceptionally ill grace.
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It is a way to deal with a cancellation. You can work an administrative appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board or you can bring a suit in federal court against the party that brought the cancellation proceeding before the PTO and ask a real Article III judge to decide whether they had the right to get your trademark registration cancelled.
Usually done when a company gets your registration cancelled because it infringes on their previously registered/used mark, but technically, I think you can do it when the cancellation is done under the provision of the Lanham (Trademark) Act forbidding the registration of offensive or scurrilous matter.
But yeah, the level of obliviousness it takes not to see how bad the optics are is amazing, even for IP attorneys who are unusually blind to such things.
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There’s nothing quite like the ability to take a bad situation and make it worse. What were they thinking? This can only result in a PR disaster…for the team. Maybe they should, instead, work at putting a better product on the field. The whole name fiasco is just another in the loss column.
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But is the ED Virginia the right venue to bring suit? Perhaps trademark law is different than patent law, but I’ve never heard of a patent owner suing a 3rd party over a request for an ex parte reexam. This should be appealed to the CAFC.
Not to mention this news is 4 weeks old. Is this more TPM “breaking” news?
Although they have not legal or economic interest in the cancellation. Not sure the Redskins “If it were not for them, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board would not have declared that the team’s trademark protections should be canceled” response is valid. But hey, I’m not a patent lawyer though been around patent law and policy for more years than I’d like to admit.
If the ruling ultimately stands, the team will still be able to use the
name, but it would be tougher for it to go after others who use it
without permission on clothing or other gear.
This part is fascinating for me. So what all this is about isn’t the right to use the name but the right to make monopoly profits from the use of the name?
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Well, they really should be suing the liberal media mafia, but I guess you have to start somewhere.
No, Indians are not offended, they never were. Have you seen them speak out or protest? No. The only people that got offended are the communists in the media. And I suspected that you’re a useful idiot of the contrived mantra if you are offended as well.
Excellent!
Edit:
Minnesota Native American leaders, student organizations and other activists have been preparing for weeks to stage demonstrations outside the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium, where the Redskins will play the Minnesota Vikings on Nov. 2. Organizers say Native Americans from at least seven states intend to join.
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Snyder should get out in front of this whole name issue and change the name of the team to one of the following:
- Crackers
- Honkies
- Obstructionists
- Cruzers
- Plutocrats
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If their argument was; “we are assholes” they would be successful.
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