
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 13, 1994                   TAG: 9403130040
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

NATIVE AMERICANS THROW REDSKINS FOR LOSS ON TRADEMARK

The Washington Redskins cannot use claims of free speech or the commercial value of their team's name to thwart a legal challenge by American Indians to their trademark, says a panel of federal law judges.

A three-judge trial and appeals board in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued the ruling Friday on a petition by Native American leaders to revoke the football club's 26-year-old trademark on "the Redskins."

In a case filed 18 months ago, the Morning Star Institute, a Washington-based advocacy group for American Indians, claimed the club's name and depiction of an Indian in its advertising and promotions are racist and degrading in violation of federal trademark law.

The Redskins said in their response that the challenge to their trademark is untimely because they've had it since 1967 and have used the name since 1933, a year after the club was founded and when it was still in Boston.

The club also claimed that canceling the trademarks would irreparably harm their revenues and good will because of the longstanding association of the name with the team through advertising, promotions and media coverage.

In addition, the Redskins claimed that provisions in the trademark law cited by the Native American leaders are unconstitutionally vague and in violation of First Amendment free speech protections.

The three-judge Patent and Trademark Appeals Board acknowledged the Redskins' legal claims, but said there is a broader public policy interest that overrides them.

"There exists a broader interest . . . in preventing a party from receiving the benefits of registration where a trial might show that respondent's marks hold a substantial segment of the population up to public ridicule," the panel said.

"Of course, such a showing has yet to be made," the judges said. "But we will not deny petitioners the right to attempt to make their case."

Stephen Baird, a Minneapolis-based patent and copyright attorney representing the Indian leaders, said the decision effectively allows the case to go forward and requires the Redskins to now prove their name doesn't disparage his clients.

He said the proceedings could wind up with closing oral arguments as early as December.

Officials with the Redskins and their attorneys in the case could not be reached for comment Saturday. But Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke has said this year that he has no intention of changing the name.

"I have spoken to many, many Indian chiefs who say they have no objection whatsoever to the nickname," Cooke said. "As far as I'm concerned, it's a dead issue. I'm not even interested in it. The name of the Redskins will remain the Redskins."

Keywords:
FOOTBALL

by CNB