Redskins Trademark Torpedoed by Patent and Trademark Office

[rasputin]

The Washington Waterboys ...

Washington Generals has a nice ring to it.

[bjornolf]

Washington Generals has a nice ring to it.

I voted for that for the Bullets, um, Wizards.

[lotusland]

The first or second time?

But anyway, are there any possible new names floating around? Any sites that are seriously discussing the issue of what to change it to?
Not just fan complaining though.

Ho about the "Native Americans"? The helmet emblem could be a BINGO card.

[Reilly]

N.C. native Gibbs on his experience with the team name:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/former-...6983--nfl.html

[Jarhead]

Has anyone suggested that we call them the Potatoes? Dang, we have a whole bag of Redskin potatoes out in the pantry. Every time Mrs Jarhead cooks 'em for supper I sing a chorus of Hail to the Redskins. I go all the way back to Sammy Baugh and Eddie LeBaron. Either one of them could throw a potato out of the stadium.

[davekay1971]

Two thoughts on this:

1) Given the atrocious history of abuses inflicted on Native Americans by our European immigrant ancestors, we should be very respectful if Native Americans claim that this team nickname is offensive. Snyder, as a private business owner, can keep the name unless the NFL is able to force a change, and the Patent Office can certainly revoke the patent for the name as it has elected to do. It would be nice to see Snyder at least meet with some Native American leaders to hear their thoughts on the name. As much as I love Joe Gibbs, his (or my) view about whether the nickname is offensive to Native Americans means nothing. The only relevant point is whether Native Americans find the name offensive.

2) IMHO the team should adopt a name that has something to do with Washigton, DC. My suggestions: The Washington Gridlock. The Washington Crony Capitalists. The Washington Corruption. The Washington Swamp. The Washington Felons. The Washington Kickbacks. The Washington Establishment. The offense could have elephants on their helmets and the defense donkeys, then every 2-8 years they switch it up, but the playbook never changes. That's a team that would really honor that city.

[bjornolf]

Two thoughts on this:

1) Given the atrocious history of abuses inflicted on Native Americans by our European immigrant ancestors, we should be very respectful if Native Americans claim that this team nickname is offensive. Snyder, as a private business owner, can keep the name unless the NFL is able to force a change, and the Patent Office can certainly revoke the patent for the name as it has elected to do. It would be nice to see Snyder at least meet with some Native American leaders to hear their thoughts on the name. As much as I love Joe Gibbs, his (or my) view about whether the nickname is offensive to Native Americans means nothing. The only relevant point is whether Native Americans find the name offensive.

2) IMHO the team should adopt a name that has something to do with Washigton, DC. My suggestions: The Washington Gridlock. The Washington Crony Capitalists. The Washington Corruption. The Washington Swamp. The Washington Felons. The Washington Kickbacks. The Washington Establishment. The offense could have elephants on their helmets and the defense donkeys, then every 2-8 years they switch it up, but the playbook never changes. That's a team that would really honor that city.

First off, it's a trademark, six of them, not a patent. There's a HUGE difference.

Second, we should absolutely listen to those NATIVE AMERICANS who find it offensive. The rest who support or denounce the name, including celebrities and politicians, don't amount to a hill of beans, except maybe Snyder and the rest of the NFL brass, the people who can do something about it. The problem is, we don't really know what Native Americans as a whole think. We know what a vocal minority of leaders with pro bono attorneys and microphones stuck in their faces every day think, and just like the rest of our leaders, they don't always represent their constituency as accurately as maybe they should.

On the other side, we have a very flawed poll a decade old that says 90% of Native Americans are not offended by the name. For every Native American you find who is offended, you can find one who loves the name, wears the gear, and cheers for the team. Over 60 schools, most of them Native American, still bear the name according to a recent sportsgrid article http://ipad.sportsgrid.com/sportsgri...0bb85335a3b3/1 . If it were as bad as the N word as some claim, would there be even one?

Word experts can't even agree on the origin of the word. Some think it started with a reference to scalping. Others say it goes much further back to the 17th century and the skin paints they used. Native Americans referred to themselves with the term back then in letters according to these experts. They called themselves Redskins to differentiate from the Whiteskin settlers. If you google "origin of the term redskin", this is all on the first page.

We need a new, more accurate poll. Make Snyder pay for an independent poll. Contact every member of every tribe they can find, millions. Have one question, three simple choices:

1. It's offensive, change it
2. I really don't care
3. I like/love the name, keep it

It may not resolve the issue, but at least we'd better know where we stand. Then we'd have to decide the tipping point. What if 20% are offended by it, but 55% don't care and 25% would be angry if we changed it? Do we want to make MORE people angry if we change it? Maybe 75% hate it. Great, then we know and have more leverage to force Dan Snyder and the NFL to take action. I love the Redskins and the name. I was raised on it from the age of 4. But again, I don't matter in this in the great scheme of things, and I'm very on the fence about changing it. Let's find out as accurately as possible what the people who are really affected by this really think. If more NATIVE AMERICANS are offended than love it, I'll gladly fall off the fence on that side.

[davekay1971]

First off, it's a trademark, six of them, not a patent. There's a HUGE difference..

If you'd kept your response to just this one line, it would have been a patented Duvall reply! Thanks for the clarification - late night blogging and lack of focus combined with a brutal mental blind spot for the world of law.

The rest of your response reminds me of the Rick Reilly column awhile back where he cited specific people (the kind that don't have mikes in their faces) who were Native American and liked the name.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/96...ot-easy-sounds

As for the poll you mentioned, I wonder why Snyder hasn't done something like that himself for PR purposes? Given the geographical concentrations of Native Americans and the ease of identifying people of that ancestry in public records, it should be simple and relatively inexpensive for a polling firm to get a reasonable sample with the questions you mentioned. If the results are anywhere close to the ones in the poll 10 years ago, Snyder would have evidence to say the team trademark is far more loved than hated. Right now, the public image is that it's a clearly offensive name and he's being a stubborn jerk. If he had data to show the vast majority of Native Americans liked the name, the PR on the issue would turn around drastically.

Of course, there's the separate question: what percentage of a group needs to be offended by a term before the term is considered offensive and unacceptable? There's probably no consensus answer to that, and I've heard arguments ranging from "if even one person is offended" to "the majority".

[gus]

Word experts can't even agree on the origin of the word. Some think it started with a reference to scalping.

I don't think any linguists or serious etymologists think that. There is little (if any) evidence to support an etymology referring to scalping of Native Americas.

Over 60 schools, most of them Native American, still bear the name according to a recent sportsgrid article

While it is true that around 60 schools use "Redskins" as a team name (though, this number keeps declining) I do not believe your contention that "most of them" are "Native American" is even remotely true.

The Other Redskins

There are a total of 46,671 students at the 62 schools that use the name Redskins. Only 2.3 percent of the students are Native American.

A Capital News Service analysis of National Center for Education Statistics data found that 50 of 62 schools that use the name Redskins are majority white, eight are majority Hispanic and one is majority black

[bjornolf]

Of course, there's the separate question: what percentage of a group needs to be offended by a term before the term is considered offensive and unacceptable? There's probably no consensus answer to that, and I've heard arguments ranging from "if even one person is offended" to "the majority".

The problem with that statement is that, as they pointed out on the radio the other day, there are an astounding number of words that are offensive to at least one person out there. I don't think we can use that measure. I also don't think it would have to be a majority. For me, at least, if a decent percentage of Native Americans found it offensive and more wanted it changed than loved the name, I'd be for it (for example, if 30% hated it, 50% didn't care, and 20% loved it, I'd say go ahead and change it, as more hate it than love it. However, if those numbers were reversed and 30% loved it and 80% either loved it or didn't care, I'd have a hard time screaming to change it.) Again, that's just my take, whose opinion really doesn't mean a thing. Either way, I think we need a modern, accurate poll.

[bjornolf]

Here's an interesting article on the origin of the word:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_v...correctly.html

[BD80]

... IMHO the team should adopt a name that has something to do with Washigton, DC. My suggestions: ... The Washington Felons. ... That's a team that would really honor that city.

The Washington Stealers

[Indoor66]

The Washington Stealers

Washington Pretenders of Washington Phonies