Redskins Formally Appeal June Trademark Ruling

The Washington Redskins Thursday formally appealed the U.S. Trademark office’s June decision to cancel several of the team’s trademark registrations.

The team announced it has filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, contesting the June 18 patent case that canceled six uses of “Redskins” trademarked from 1967 to 1990 and claimed the team’s name was “disparaging to Native Americans.”

The team announced its plans to appeal the ruling in June. The trademarks remain in place until the case finishes making its way through court, which could take years, The Associated Press reports.

“We believe that the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ignored both federal case law and the weight of the evidence, and we look forward to having a federal court review this obviously flawed decision,” said Bob Raskopf, trademark attorney for the Washington Redskins, in a statement.

“Specifically, by canceling valuable, decades-old registrations, the Board improperly penalized the Washington Redskins based on the content of the team’s speech in violation of the First Amendment,” the statement said. “The complaint also alleges that the team has been unfairly deprived of its valuable and long-held intellectual property rights in violation of the Fifth Amendment.”

The team said it would ask the court to consider the ruling’s effect on the team’s right to free speech and whether the team would be deprived of “valuable and long-held intellectual property rights.”

Team owner Dan Snyder has adamantly repeated his intentions to keep the team’s name.

‘’This effort is doomed to fail,’’ said Amanda Blackhorse, the case’s lead plaintiff and one of five Native Americans being sued by the Redskins. ‘’But if they want to prolong this litigation which has already gone on for 22 years, I guess they have that prerogative.’’

A group of five Native Americans, including Blackhorse, filed the original lawsuit in 2006, citing a trademark law that prohibits registered names from being disparaging.

‘’If people wouldn’t dare call a Native American a ‘redskin’ because they know it is offensive, how can an NFL football team have this name?’’ Blackhorse said. ‘’We know that time is on our side for a change in the team’s name, and we are confident we will win once again at this stage of the litigation.’’