Alex Beall
WMAL.com
ALEXANDRIA — (WMAL) Bruce Allen, President of the Redskins football team, released a statement Wednesday afternoon regarding the Judge Gerald Bruce Lee’s decision to uphold the cancellation of the Redskins’ trademark.
“I am surprised by the judge’s decision to prevent us from presenting our evidence in an open trial. We look forward to winning on appeal after a fair and impartial review of the case. We are convinced that we will win because the facts and the law are on the side of our franchise that has proudly used the name Redskins for more than 80 years.”
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In another legal setback for the Washington Redskins, a judge in Alexandria has upheld the cancellation of the Redskins’ trademark.
Wednesday’s ruling by Judge Gerald Bruce Lee affirms an earlier administrative appeal board ruling in the ongoing fight over the nickname many people consider a racist slur.
American University law professor Christine Farley has been following the case. She explained that one key point in the case is whether the ruling violated the team’s freedom of speech.
“The judge ruled against the team on every argument they made,” Farley said. “The judge first addressed the constitutional claims and found the cancellation of a trademark registration does not affect anyone’s speech.”
The judge said that in the case of trademarks the government approves certain types of speech, thus it could legally remove the trademark because trademarks are considered government speech, which is not protected by the First Amendment.
The team also had to prove that the name was not disparaging. However, after studying dictionaries, literature and media of the time when the trademark was registered, the judge ruled the term was disparaging at that time.
Farley thinks the new constitutional challenge may now get attention of the Supreme Court.
While the judge has ordered cancellation of the team’s federal trademark registrations, the team maintains common law trademarks and could still register a trademark under state law.
The team can also still appeal further, and the ruling emphasizes that the team can continue using the name.
“If anyone thought that the Trademark Office didn’t make the right the decision, this judge took 70 pages to explain why the Trademark Office’s decision was in fact correct,” Farley said.
Redskins Trademark Case Opinion and Order
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