NFL

Trademark cancellation a major blow to Redskins nickname

Pressure on the Redskins to change their name appeared to pick up steam Wednesday when the federal patent office voted to nullify the team’s trademark for disparaging Native Americans.

The decision, on a 2-1 vote, was hailed by opponents but does not mean Redskins owner Daniel Snyder must come up with a new nickname immediately or lose exclusive rights to it for memorabilia sales.

But the vote does add more fuel to the recent public groundswell — including a letter from 50 members of Congress and comments from President Obama — to badger Snyder into changing it.

Not surprisingly, Snyder was defiant and vowed to immediately appeal the decision. It was the second time since 1999 the patent office had lifted the Redskins’ trademark, and a federal court overturned the first decision in 2003.

Redskins owner Daniel SnyderAP

“We’ve seen this story before, and just like last time, today’s ruling will have no effect at all on the team’s ownership of and right to use the Redskins name and logo,” Redskins trademark attorney Bob Raskopf said in a statement.

Legal experts said the appeal could take years to wind its way through the courts and cast doubt about how much financial damage the decision could inflict on Snyder while judges decide its merit.

Though theoretically the decision could allow anyone to set up shop and sell Redskins merchandise without paying royalties to the team or the NFL, legal experts said the Redskins retain what is known as a “common law trademark” and still could recoup damages through legal action.

“This ruling — which of course we will appeal — simply addresses the team’s federal trademark registrations, and the team will continue to own and be able to protect its marks without the registrations,” the Redskins’ Raskopf said. “The registrations will remain effective while the case is on appeal.”

The NFL declined comment, referring questions to the Redskins.

Though the immediate impact of Wednesday’s decision is debatable, leaders of the “Change the Mascot” campaign spearheaded by the Oneida Indian Nation in upstate New York — which conducted season-long protests against the team last fall — praised Wednesday’s ruling as “momentous.”

They also noted the court’s 2003 ruling to overturn the patent office’s decision was based on procedural grounds and not whether the nickname was a slur ineligible for copyright.

“The U.S. Patent Office has now restated the obvious truth that Native Americans, civil rights leaders, athletes, religious groups, state legislative bodies, Members of Congress and the president have all echoed: taxpayer resources cannot be used to help private companies profit off the promotion of dictionary defined racial slurs,” Oneida representative Ray Halbritter said.