The US Patent and Trademark Office found that the
REDSKINS trade mark for Washington DC's American football team
was disparaging to Native Americans. Janet Satterthwaite
reports.
American football is big over here, culturally and financially.
The Washington DC franchise is called the Redskins, and the mascot
is an Indian chief. Many say that in a city often divided by
politics, race and class, this hugely popular football team is the
glue that binds our society. There are other older sports
franchises with similar names, such as Baseball's Cleveland
Indians and Atlanta Braves, but as REDSKINS is a disparaging term
for Native Americans, it is one of the most controversial.
A recent decision of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the
USPTO to cancel all the team's trade mark registrations
containing the word REDSKINS because they are disparaging to Native
Americans has gone viral. As you can imagine, most press reports
are wildly inaccurate as to the implications
