Judge Throws Penalty Flag on Washington's Football Team

A Federal judge in Alexandria, VA today ruled that the trademark registration for Washington's professional football team name be cancelled by the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).  The PTO determined last year that the name of the team was disparaging to Native Americans, and the court agreed.  The team's organizations is expected to appeal the decision to the appellate court.

The ruling means that some of the legal protections that go along with the trademark are lost, giving some entrepreneurs leeway to reproduce the formerly trademarked name and logo without paying the team and, by extension, its greedy owner Li'l Danny Snyder, royalties.  As we've noted before, why not rename them, say, The Buckskins, after the bucks that Li'l Danny craves;  also, they'd be called 'Skins for short as they are now, and minimizing the embarrassment? (That way, if they continue to perform poorly, they'd be called the Suckskins;  win-win all around!)