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U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team

ttabvue.uspto.gov

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Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team

#11

Post by emehrkay »

bitJericho wrote: post #5
protomyth wrote: post #4

I'm not sure how to feel on this one. I doubt my dad (an enrolled member of one of the plains tribes) will be pleased as the Redskins are his favorite NFL team. If I was the Apache Foundation, I would be looking for another name.

Apache is not a derogatory name for an American Indian. '"Redskin" is a term for Native Americans. Its connotations are a subject of debate,[1] although the term is defined in current dictionaries of American English as "usually offensive",[2] "disparaging",[3][4] "insulting",[5] and "taboo." [6]' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redskin_(slang)

I learned over the weekend that "red skin" was used to describe the blood on their skin after they were maimed/killed.

edit:

http://www.npr.org/2014/06/12/321392824/the-ad-campaign-to-t...

Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team

#12

Post by greatergoodguy »

protomyth wrote: post #7
bitJericho wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apache is not a derogatory name for an American Indian. '"Redskin" is a term for Native Americans. Its connotations are a subject of debate,[1] although the term is defined in current dictionaries of American English as "usually offensive",[2] "disparaging",[3][4] "insulting",[5] and "taboo." [6]' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redskin_(slang)

Well, Apache is the name of a group of tribes and they might decide they want the website back. And I take a bit of an offense at you telling me or my Dad what you think Redskin means versus what he grew up with and myself growing up on a reservation with the slang "skins" being used often and not in anyway like your dictionary definition probably written by someone who had never set foot on a reservation.

He didn't tell you what he thinks the word meant. He told you the definition as accepted by many dictionaries. Be careful not to take other peoples word and apply it through your own filter.

Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team

#13

Post by Alupis »

For anyone not understanding what this is about, here's the most important part of the ruling:

>

> ...we decide, based on the evidence properly before us, that

> these registrations must be cancelled because they were

> disparaging to Native Americans at the respective times

> they were registered, in violation of Section 2(a)

> of the Trademark Act of 1946, 15 U.S.C. § 1052(a).

>

Seems like this ruling may lead to more... there are a lot of trademarks in the US that some party somewhere will take offense to.

Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team

#14

Post by mjgoins »

protomyth wrote: post #8
imsofuture wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure 'apache' is quite the same as 'redskins'.

The Apache group of tribes probably have a much stronger case with an WPO or trademark claim now to get the name and website (apache.org).

That's a different rationale, though. This trademark is being thrown out specifically because it is considered defamatory.

Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team

#16

Post by kaonashi »

iterationx wrote: post #9
protomyth wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, Apache is the name of a group of tribes and they might decide they want the website back. And I take a bit of an offense at you telling me or my Dad what you think Redskin means versus what he grew up with and myself growing up on a reservation with the slang "skins" being used often and not in anyway like your dictionary definition probably written by someone who had never set foot on a reservation.

For some reason, liberals like to be offended on behalf of other groups.

I see you've removed all agency from the 'other groups'. Kudos.

Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team

#17

Post by jarin »

protomyth wrote: post #7
bitJericho wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apache is not a derogatory name for an American Indian. '"Redskin" is a term for Native Americans. Its connotations are a subject of debate,[1] although the term is defined in current dictionaries of American English as "usually offensive",[2] "disparaging",[3][4] "insulting",[5] and "taboo." [6]' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redskin_(slang)

Well, Apache is the name of a group of tribes and they might decide they want the website back. And I take a bit of an offense at you telling me or my Dad what you think Redskin means versus what he grew up with and myself growing up on a reservation with the slang "skins" being used often and not in anyway like your dictionary definition probably written by someone who had never set foot on a reservation.

Welp, pack it up guys, two people don't think the trademark is offensive.

Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team

#18

Post by apendleton »

protomyth wrote: post #8
imsofuture wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure 'apache' is quite the same as 'redskins'.

The Apache group of tribes probably have a much stronger case with an WPO or trademark claim now to get the name and website (apache.org).

No they don't. This challenge wasn't based on someone else having rights to the name, and nobody gets the "Redskins" trademark now that the team has lost it. No property (physical, intellectual, electronic, etc.) has changed hands, and this decision doesn't set precedent for that to happen in the future.

If the Apache group of tribes claimed that the word "Apache" was offensive, and managed to convince the USPTO that that was the case, maybe they could get the trademark rescinded, but that wouldn't mean they would get it for themselves, nor would it even mean the ASF would have to stop using the name, much less give up their website, only that they would no longer be able to sue other people for using it as well.

Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team

#19

Post by protomyth »

iterationx wrote: post #9
protomyth wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, Apache is the name of a group of tribes and they might decide they want the website back. And I take a bit of an offense at you telling me or my Dad what you think Redskin means versus what he grew up with and myself growing up on a reservation with the slang "skins" being used often and not in anyway like your dictionary definition probably written by someone who had never set foot on a reservation.

For some reason, liberals like to be offended on behalf of other groups.

If they want to be offended maybe they should look at the crappy government health care (search: don't get sick after june), or the federal prosecutor who won't prosecute non-indians who steal on the reservation (even if the rez has video), look at the high unemployment rate after shutting down the defense contractor, or maybe take crimes against children with some seriousness. Being offended by names is way the heck down on the list.

Oh, excuse me, all of those are failures of government and we cannot acknowledge that.

Re: U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team

#20

Post by protomyth »

kaonashi wrote: post #16
iterationx wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some reason, liberals like to be offended on behalf of other groups.

I see you've removed all agency from the 'other groups'. Kudos.

Maybe, but I've just seen a whole reservation take a vote on a name and be ignored by the NCAA. If you can honestly tell me that this came from the tribes and was voted on by their people, I'll believe it is an actual movement. Otherwise, its just more of the loud offended that don't really give a damn about.
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