"Redskins" Again Challanged as Disparaging

The Washington Post Reports that for second time in 14 years, a group of Native Americans has filed a legal challenge to trademarks for the name and logo of the Washington Redskins, saying the team's name is a racial slur that should be changed.

In 2003, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled in the Redskin's favor and threw out the TTAB's decision to cancel six highly lucrative Redskins trademarks. She did not decide the case on the merits but concluded that the activists waited too long to challenge the Redskin trademarks that were first granted in 1967.

The attorney representing the Native American activists said the challengers in the new case are 19 to 24 years old. Therefore, these plaintiffs cannot have waited too long to sue, because they were not born when the first trademark was granted. The attorney said the new filing would force the courts to rule on the underlying issue of whether the Redskins name is disparaging to Native Americans, and therefore, the Redskin trademarks should be cancelled.