Let there be no doubt:
In a decision released Wednesday, the United States Patent and Trademark Office canceled the trademark on the Washington Redskins' team name citing the rule that trademarks cannot "disparage persons or bring them into contempt or disrepute."
ThinkProgress reports that the U.S. Patent Office "canceled six federal trademark registrations for the
name of the Washington Redskins" and ruled that the Redskins name "cannot be trademarked under federal law that prohibits the protection of disparaging language." The team had been essentially grandfathered in, as the rule didn't exist when the original trademarks were claimed. The ruling does not mean that team must stop using the name, only that they will not longer receive the trademark protection afforded other companies. As the USPTO writes in its decision, "We lack statutory authority to issue rulings concerning the right to use trademarks." Anyone could now use the name and logo for their own products or activities.
The Patent Office noted that the team's trademarks were "disparaging to Native Americans at the respective times they were registered" and cancelled trademarks for both name and designs.
The team's trademarks had been previously struck down by the Trial and Appeal Board in 1992 on grounds that the trademarks "brings [Native Americans] into contempt, ridicule, and disrepute; and the marks consist of or comprise scandalous matter," but that ruling was reversed by a D.C. district court of appeals which found the challenge was "not supported by substantial evidence."
If you're one of the idiots applauding this decision, know how short-sighted and stupid you truly are. This is a political decision made to score points that will now impact a company's bottom line.
If the current administration can get away with this, and if you don't think this is the Obama administration then you truly are a complete buffoon, then know that a future administration can do something similar down the road against any company seen to offend a tiny number of individuals.
If this idiocy stands, the United States of America falls.
Yea, I meant that.
This is the epitome of the slippery slope.
God help us.