A Team By Any Other Name….

The Washington Redskins lost again- but this time not on the football field. Just this week, a federal judge affirmed an earlier ruling by the United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ("TTAB") that the team's name was offensive to Native Americans and therefore ineligible for trademark protection under the Lanham Act.

While the Redskins moniker has been around for 80 years, it was not until the early 1990's that aggrieved plaintiffs turned to the courts to challenge the use of Native American mascots and Native American team names. Then and now, the Lanham Act, which bars trademark protection for names which are offensive or disparaging has been invoked to advance these efforts.