Federal Government: Washington Redskins Trademark No Longer Valid

If you are keeping track, this is the 2nd straight incident in as many months where a sports team owner is losing his property because liberals thought either he or his franchise was deemed racist.  

First it was Donald Sterling who had his private conversation illegally recorded by his mistress when he decided to set boundaries and the National Basketball Association is ripping the team out of his ownership.   

Now we have The Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder about to lose hundreds of  millions with his franchise as  today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has canceled the Washington Redskins trademark registration!

 We now have set precedent where any business entity or private entity can lose their property based on someone being offended.  This is not America! 

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has canceled the Washington Redskins trademark registration, an extremely rare move the office said it made because the name is offensive to Native Americans.

Trademarks that disparage or belittle other groups are not permitted under federal law. The ruling Wednesday pertains to six different trademarks containing the word “Redskin.”

Native American groups have been fighting the football team, its owners and sponsors for decades to change the name.

The decision can be reviewed by a federal court. The ruling does not mean that the trademarks can no longer be used by the NFL club, only that they are no longer registered, the statement said.

The ruling opens the door for outside sellers to sell Redskins merchandise without paying royalties to the NFL. Merchandise royalties are split equally among all NFL teams, except for the Dallas Cowboys.

This is the second time the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has faced a petition to cancel these registrations. The first was in 1992; that case was overturned on a technicality.

Many other sports teams, professional down to grade schools, have names derived from Native American roots. But few have received more scrutiny or backlash than the Redskins. Some, including the Fighting Illini, have changed their mascots amid controversy.