The United States Patent and Trademark Office cancels six trademark registrations.
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The United States Patent and Trademark Office on Wednesday morning canceled six federal trademark registrations for the name of the Washington Redskins after ruling that the name is "disparaging to Native Americans."
"We decide, based on the evidence properly before us, that these registrations must be cancelled because they were disparaging to Native Americans at the respective times they were registered," the board wrote in its opinion.
The ruling was in response to Blackhorse v. Pro Football, Inc., a petition from 2006 requesting the term "Redskins" be stripped of its trademark protections. And with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's decision, the National Football League loses benefits of federal registration of the trademark, including the use of the federal registration symbol.
The franchise is the third-most valuable team in the NFL at $1.7 billion. Now that Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder and the NFL have lost the trademark on the team name, anyone will be free to sell merchandise with the nickname without the NFL receiving proceeds. All 32 NFL teams share proceeds so the entire league would see a loss.
The ruling does not guarantee the team's name will be changed, but opponents of the name are hopeful it will put enough pressure on the NFL and the Washington franchise.
"I hope this ruling brings us a step closer to that inevitable day when the name of the Washington football team will be changed," plaintiff Amanda Blackhorse said. "The team's name is racist and derogatory."
from BuzzFeed - Breaking http://ift.tt/1pIzidS
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