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Patent office cancels Redskins trademarks

Beaudreaux said:
What about the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Black Widow?
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You know this might be why most car companies are naming their cars with letters and numbers.

It makes the car sound ridiculous, but they are not offending anybody.
 
Beaudreaux said:
This is just now being announced, so there isn't much out there yet:
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Are they even allowed to do that? That would mean people.could just start using the Redskins logos and such, yes? The NFL in general couldn't really be too pleased with that.
 
A longer article on the story:

You Know What’s More Unbelievable Than Losing Lois Lerner’s Emails? Losing Emails of SIX MORE IRS Employees!

The move affects six registrations and was brought about by a petition from five Native Americans. The office found that "a substantial composite of Native Americans found the term REDSKINS to be disparaging in connection with respondent’s services during the relevant time frame of 1967-1990."
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Wow, 5 people is a 'substantial composite'. I think we can find 5 people that find anything disparaging or offensive, Including the president. ;) Do they really want to go down that road?
 
btw, this does not cause the redskins to change its name.
 
Beaudreaux said:
This is just now being announced, so there isn't much out there yet:
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The article also said this was done before and it was overturned in Federal court. The team can continue using the logo as well. This will go nowhere just like it did in 2003.
 
Mason66 said:
OMG. What is Chrysler Corporation going to do with the Jeep CHEROKEE? Could it be next?
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That is what I am wondering. This will open up Pandora's box. If 5 offended people have the ability to change a name, then we can have unlimited supreme court cases over offensive names of products.

I personally think that the owner should calculate the cost of changing their name, ask for that amount of money from the offended parties and then change the name ASAP. A ruling against the Washington Redskins could alter our free market system forever. The owner of the Washington Redskins is being very unreasonable and very selfish.

A name change is a reasonable request but a ridiculous demand.
 
Jack Fabulous said:
No argument that they have options for other names but that isn't the point. The power of the federal government is being used inappropriately to force that change. It should scare the hell out of everyone.
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Absolutely - when they abuse power at this level, we should be very worried.
Harry Reid is out tooting his horn all ready over the patent being cancelled, but we know Reid has been pushing for a name change
from the beginning. Nothing better for him to do I suppose...
 
From the Patent Office website:

Functions of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The role of the USPTO is to grant patents for the protection of inventions and to register trademarks. It serves the interest of inventors and businesses with respect to their inventions and corporate products, and service identifications. It also advises and assists the President of the United States, the Secretary of Commerce, the bureaus and offices of the Department of Commerce and other agencies of the government in matters involving all domestic and global aspects of “intellectual property.” Through the preservation, classification, and dissemination of patent information, the Office promotes the industrial and technological progress of the nation and strengthens the economy.



In discharging its patent related duties, the USPTO examines applications and grants patents on inventions when applicants are entitled to them; it publishes and disseminates patent information, records assignments of patents, maintains search files of U.S. and foreign patents, and maintains a search room for public use in examining issued patents and records. The Office supplies copies of patents and official records to the public. It provides training to practitioners as to requirements of the patent statutes and regulations, and it publishes the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure to elucidate these. Similar functions are performed relating to trademarks. By protecting intellectual endeavors and encouraging technological progress, the USPTO seeks to preserve the United States’ technological edge, which is key to our current and future competitiveness. The USPTO also disseminates patent and trademark information that promotes an understanding of intellectual property protection and facilitates the development and sharing of new technologies worldwide.



I missed the part where their job is to legislate hurt feelings.

General Information Concerning Patents
 
Unitedwestand13 said:
What about the 5 Native Americans who brought the original suit? Should they have just remained silent?
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They have the right to complain as much as they want but it is not the government job to use it's power to corherisve someone just because they hurt someone feelings.

It is no different if for example I lived in mainly a Japanese neighborhood and on my property I had huge poster of offensive WW2 anti-Japanese propaganda cartoons every where. My neighbors have every right to complain but they don't have the right to use the power of government to get me to remove my posters.
 
Nicnam said:
Absolutely - when they abuse power at this level, we should be very worried.
Harry Reid is out tooting his horn all ready over the patent being cancelled, but we know Reid has been pushing for a name change
from the beginning. Nothing better for him to do I suppose...
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Slow year in the old Senate chamber apparently.
 
vasuderatorrent said:
That is what I am wondering. This will open up Pandora's box. If 5 offended people have the ability to change a name, then we can have unlimited supreme court cases over offensive names of products.

I personally think that the owner should calculate the cost of changing their name, ask for that amount of money from the offended parties and then change the name ASAP. A ruling against the Washington Redskins could alter our free market system forever. The owner of the Washington Redskins is being very unreasonable and very selfish.

A name change is a reasonable request but a ridiculous demand.
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The owner of the Redskins is being unreasonable and selfish? How so? It seems to me that 5 Native Americans and the U.S. patent office are being unreasonable and selfish.
 
Beaudreaux said:
Capricious is exactly the correct term. Well done. Arbitrary and capricious. The one Achilles' Heel that the government can't dodge in court.
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It will be interesting as well to see if the NFL takes up the side of Snider and the Redskins in this, protecting their corporate and property rights that have been attacked here.
 
Nicnam said:
Absolutely - when they abuse power at this level, we should be very worried.
Harry Reid is out tooting his horn all ready over the patent being cancelled, but we know Reid has been pushing for a name change
from the beginning. Nothing better for him to do I suppose...
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This is distraction politics. If a politicians makes a big enough idiot of himself people will forget about his poor policy decisions. This is a petty issue that most folks don't have a strong opinion one way or the other. If Reid continues this tirade, he will never offend any of his constituents or the constituents of his fellow Democrats up for re-election. Harry Reid is a good politician. He knows what he is doing. No matter how dumb it looks, it works.
 
Ikari said:
Are they even allowed to do that? That would mean people.could just start using the Redskins logos and such, yes? The NFL in general couldn't really be too pleased with that.
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I'm sure the resulting lawsuit will answer that with a resounding... NO... they cannot.
 
shrubnose said:
Wrong.

It's very relevant to the story which is about trademarks.
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No, that you can 'buy knockoffs' doesn't matter, that the knockoffs exist doesn't matter. The team was punished because it didn't do as government wanted it to do and has been pushing it to do for a long time, and that punishment means now they have no legal recourse for the theft of their brand, meaning loss of revenues.
 
voyager1 said:
The article also said this was done before and it was overturned in Federal court. The team can continue using the logo as well. This will go nowhere just like it did in 2003.
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There's one place I feel it will definitely go... to court, against the Obama Administration in the form of the US Patent Office.
 
The Man said:
The owner of the Redskins is being unreasonable and selfish? How so? It seems to me that 5 Native Americans and the U.S. patent office are being unreasonable and selfish.
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Agreed but they aren't going away. He is on the right side but many people have died on the side of principle. Sometimes you just lose. It's not really a big loss. He could use it to get some great publicity. He is standing on principle and it has nothing to do with his own financial benefit. Otherwise the name would have already been changed decades ago.
 
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