Redskins Are Denied Trademarks

              By Brooke A. Masters
               Washington Post Staff Writer [complete article here]
               Saturday, April 3, 1999; Page A1

               The Washington Redskins have no right to
               trademark their nickname because it is
               disparaging to Native Americans, a
               three-judge panel of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
               ruled yesterday.

               In a decision that gave nearly total victory to a group of
               Native Americans who filed a complaint in 1992, the board
               ordered the cancellation of federal registrations for seven
               Redskin trademarks, including the team's name and the
               helmet logo showing an Indian's head in profile.

               The 145-page ruling does not prevent the team from
               continuing to use the Redskins name and the related logos.
               But it could jeopardize the millions of dollars in revenue that
               all National Football League teams reap from the sale of
               Redskins merchandise because the team would no longer be
               able to use federal law to prevent others from putting the
               logos on items such as T-shirts, caps and pennants.

               The board's decision will not take effect until the Redskins
               have had a chance to appeal.

               "This is fabulous," said lead plaintiff Suzan Shown Harjo, a
               District resident and member of the Cheyenne tribe. "I never
               expected to see justice done in my lifetime. . .‚. This is an
               absolutely mighty landmark [of] societal change that we are
               watching."

               The Redskins have no plans to change the team's name, and
               they will appeal the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for
               the Federal Circuit, said the team's attorney, John Paul
               Reiner. The team also plans to use state patent law to protect
               the logos and name from infringement, he said.

               "We regret the opinion, and we think it's wrong," Reiner said.
               "We are going to continue to protect the marks vigorously."

               National Football League spokesman Greg Aiello declined to
               comment on the decision.

               Though Native American groups have long protested names
               and symbols they find offensive-including the Cleveland
               Indians' logo and the tomahawk chop used by Atlanta Braves
               fans-this marks the first time that a federal agency has come
               down on their side.

               On the state level, the Utah Supreme Court ruled this year in
               a case involving complaints by Native Americans about
               several license plates that bore variations on the word
               "redskin." A state agency had rejected the challenge, but the
               Supreme Court ordered the agency to reconsider.

               A 1946 federal trademark law says names cannot be
               protected if they are "disparaging, scandalous, contemptuous
               or disreputable."

               In yesterday's ruling, the patent board relied on testimony
               from linguists and historians that the term "redskin" has long
               been used in a pejorative sense to refer to Native Americans.
               The board also cited a survey commissioned by the plaintiffs
               that found that 46 percent of the general public considered
               the word "offensive to me."

               "A substantial composite of the general public finds the word
               'redskin(s)' to be a derogatory term of reference for Native
               Americans . . . [and] the derogatory connotation of the word .
               . . extends to the term 'Redskins,' as used in [the football
               team's] marks," the panel wrote.

               The judges ruled that the term was disparaging to Native
               Americans and tended to bring them "into contempt or
               disrepute."
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