Groups attempt to revoke Redskins' trademark on name

[truthpusher]

Groups attempt to revoke Redskins' trademark on name
------------------------------
April 8, 2005
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports
------------------------------
WASHINGTON -- Major American Indian groups went to court Friday trying to revoke the Washington Redskins' trademark name, calling it a disparaging reference to millions of people.

Four national organizations joined a District of Columbia resident who sued in 1992 to pressure the team to drop the Redskins moniker because they consider it offensive. But a team lawyer argued that the appeal should be dismissed because the legal complaints weren't filed until decades after the name was first adopted in 1933.

"This football team has been on actual notice from 1972 that Native Americans found this name offensive," attorney Thomas Morrison, representing the American Indian groups, told the U.S. Court of Appeals. "I don't think we'd be hearing this debate if it were a different ethnic group."

Suzan Shown Harjo, one of the original plaintiffs, won the first round in 1999 when a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office panel canceled the Redskins' trademarks. But a federal judge reversed that decision last year, ruling the panel relied on flawed data.

more: http://cbs.sportsline.com/nfl/story/8368396

[OrlandoGator]

1. I'm a lifelong NFL fan...and absolutely HATE the nickname "Redskins"

As the article indicates...how long do you think the nickname "Blackskins" would last in today's social climate?

[mac56]

2. There was a poster some years ago

that featured mock-up pennants from the "Pittsburgh Caucasians", "Kansas City Jews", et al.

Then an actual pennant from the Cleveland Indians.

The caption read, "Now you know how Native Americans feel."

On edit: it was the San Diego Caucasians, the Pittsburgh Negroes, and the Kansas City Jews.