Redskins Decision Sparks Eruption of Hyperbole and Misinformation

The decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to cancel trademark registrations of the Washington Redskins NFL team for being "disparaging of Native Americans" has been reported by at least 1,400 news outlets. Many outlets have declared this as a “landmark” decision that will have serious IP implications in the United States; however, they may have misinterpreted the decision, assuming the "Redskins" term is not legally protected.

Mark Sommers, partner at Finnegan, commented from a legal perspective: “There is nothing ground-breaking from a pure legal stand-point about the decision (other than perhaps that a trademark case made national breaking news). Even if a court upholds the cancellation of the registration on appeal, the team will still have so-called ‘common law’ trademark rights arising from its long and consistent commercial use of the name. And those rights are very strong. They include the ability to stop other people from using the mark in a way that appears to be authorized by the team.”