U.S. Patent and Trademark office cancels protection of Washi

[macrae1234]

U.S. Patent and Trademark office cancels protection of Washington team name

Whenever the government gets involved in the question of whether the Washington NFL team should change its name, people who support the current name ask whether the government has anything better to do. For one specific agency of the government, the answer is a resounding no.

That’s the same one-word response the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has supplied regarding the question of whether the name should continue to enjoy federal trademark protection. Via the Washington Post, the agency has canceled the registration, calling the name “disparaging to Native Americans.”

“This victory was a long time coming and reflects the hard work of many attorneys at our firm,” attorney Jesse Witten of Drinker Biddle & Reath told the Post.

It was indeed a long time coming, with the first challenge to the name filed back in 1992. The initial case failed on a technicality that the plaintiffs believe has been remedied in this case.

Moving forward, appeals are certain and lawyers will get paid and the issue won’t be settled for months if not years. In the interim, the ruling will serve only to give more momentum to the increasingly loud and persuasive voices that oppose the name.

If the name, after all appeals, is deemed to not be protected by trademark laws, anyone and everyone will be able to sell merchandise bearing the name and colors without the team having the ability to enforce its rights through legal action. While that may not be enough to compel owner Daniel Snyder to abandon his all-caps-never and/or “over my dead body” insistence on keeping the name, it would be the first tangible evidence of an economic consequence for continuing to cling to a name that the ever-evolving English language has over the slow march of time discarded from the list of socially acceptable terms.

[littlebeast13]

This is what the courts were busy doing while my AC got hacked to bits? It fucking figures....

lb13

[Bob78164]

This is what the courts were busy doing while my AC got hacked to bits? It fucking figures....

lb13

Not the courts. Not yet anyway. This is just the Trademark Office. --Bob

[silverscreenselect]

If the name, after all appeals, is deemed to not be protected by trademark laws, anyone and everyone will be able to sell merchandise bearing the name and colors without the team having the ability to enforce its rights through legal action. While that may not be enough to compel owner Daniel Snyder to abandon his all-caps-never and/or “over my dead body” insistence on keeping the name, it would be the first tangible evidence of an economic consequence for continuing to cling to a name that the ever-evolving English language has over the slow march of time discarded from the list of socially acceptable terms.

As long as the Atlanta Braves are still okay...

Are there still any more Sambo's restaurants?

[BackInTex]

Great news! I now expect the alcholism and unemployment rates of all native americans (who historically are way above the national average) to drop significantly and for their lives to become much more rewarding and productive.

[macrae1234]

As long as the Atlanta Braves are still okay...

Of course they were named after Meridia the heroine in the Disney cartoon movie Brave


Just like Washington changed the namesake of King county I leave it to you to read up on the colorful life of this VP, James Bucanan's very good friend and the only VP to take the oath of office on foreign soil. He was ill in Cuba and died shortly after.

The county was originally named after William Rufus King who was Vice-President when the Washington Territory was created. In 1986 a motion was introduced by Ron Sims (a black Democrat from Seattle), and Bruce Laing (a white Republican from suburban Renton) to change the namesake to Martin Luther King, Jr No public votes or hearings were taken on the change.
On February 24, 1986, the King County Council passed Council Motion 6461 five votes to four setting forth the historical basis for the renaming of King County in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr Because only the state can charter counties, this change was not made official until April 19, 2005, when Washington Governor Christine Gregoire signed Senate Bill 5332 into law.

Council member Larry Gossett shepherded the County Council to a public vote on February 27, 2006 to change the county's logo from a royal crown to an image of King On March 12, 2007, the new logo was unveiled
Martin Luther King Jr. visited King County for two days in November 1961

[silverscreenselect]

Martin Luther King Jr. visited King County for two days in November 1961

Did Elvis ever visit King County?

[macrae1234]

Did Elvis ever visit King County?

For sure in 1962 when he filmed It Happened at the World's Fair
for shame SSS missing that

[SpacemanSpiff]

Martin Luther King Jr. visited King County for two days in November 1961

Did Elvis ever visit King County?

And what about Richard Petty?
I'm pretty sure Jerry Lawler did at some point.

[Bob Juch]

Whenever the government gets involved in the question of whether the Washington NFL team should change its name, people who support the current name ask whether the government has anything better to do. For one specific agency of the government, the answer is a resounding no.

They didn't decide on their own to void the trademark; they don't go looking for trouble.