Patent Office Cancels Redskins Trademark

In a big move, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced Wednesday morning that it is canceling six federal trademark registrations for the name of the Washington Redskins. “We decide, based on the evidence properly before us, that these registrations must be canceled because they were disparaging to Native Americans at the respective times they were registered,” the board said. The board has removed the team’s trademark protections in the past. In 1992, the board ruled the trademarks were disparaging, but a federal court overturned it on a technicality. The decision only affects the right to register the trademarks, but won’t stop the team from using them. However, it will make it much more difficult for the team to sue somebody for using the name and logos.