Judge rules against Redskins trademark

Training camp may be weeks away, but the Washington Redskins have already been dealt a big defeat.

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the registration of the team’s trademark registrations.


The decision by a judge in Alexandria, Virginia, upholds an earlier finding by an administrative appeal board, which found that the team name could be perceived as disparaging or offensive to Native Americans.

The cancellation would not go into effect, however, until the Redskins have gone through all of their appeals. Even if they were to bring it to the Supreme Court and lose the case, the team could still use the name and seek trademark protections under state law in Virginia, where the team is headquartered.

In his 70-page ruling, Judge Gerald Bruce Lee said the judgment “is not an order that precludes [plaintiff Pro-Football Inc.] from using the marks in commerce,” nor does it ban fans of the team from buying, wearing or collecting memorabilia or apparel with the trademarked logos.

“What actions, if any, PFI takes going forward with the marks are a business judgment beyond the purview of this Court’s jurisdiction,” Lee wrote.

Five Native American activists, led by Amanda Blackhorse, a member of Navajo Nation, filed a petition with the the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in 2006. In its ruling last year, the board asserted that the team’s name is offensive to Native Americans and is therefore not subject to trademark registration under the Lanham Act because it bans names that bring “contempt” and “disrepute” on people.

The Redskins had filed suit in hopes of overturning the board’s decision last June.

“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 team said in a statement following last year’s appeal, filed in August.

On Wednesday, Redskins team president Bruce Allen reacted with disappointment.

“I am surprised by the judge’s decision to prevent us from presenting our evidence in an open trial. We look forward to winning on appeal after a fair and impartial review of the case. We are convinced that we will win because the facts and the law are on the side of our franchise that has proudly used the name Redskins for more than 80 years,” he said in a statement.

Jesse Witten, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, called the judge’s decision “a victory for human dignity.”

“Today’s ruling by the District Court resoundingly affirmed the Trademark Office’s decision that the team’s trademark registrations should never have been issued,” Witten said in a statement issued by the firm Drinker Biddle. “This decision is a victory for human dignity and for my courageous clients who have waited so long for this ruling.”