Posted on 05/15/2009 10:08:46 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
WASHINGTON – The Washington Redskins won another legal victory Friday in a 17-year fight with a group of American Indians who argue the football team's trademark is racially offensive.
The decision issued Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington doesn't address the main question of racism at the center of the case. Instead, it upholds the lower court's decision in favor of the football team on a legal technicality.
The court agreed that the seven Native Americans waited too long to challenge the trademark first issued in 1967. They initially won — the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office panel canceled the trademarks in 1999 — but they've suffered a series of defeats in the federal courts since then.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly overturned that decision in 2003 in part because the suit was filed decades after the first Redskins trademark was issued. The U.S. Court of Appeals then sent the case back to Kollar-Kotelly, noting that the youngest of the plaintiffs was only 1-year-old in 1967 and therefore could not have taken legal action at the time.
Kollar-Kotelly issued a new ruling last summer that rejected that argument. She wrote that the youngest plaintiff turned 18 in 1984 and therefore waited almost eight years after coming of age to join the lawsuit.
The judge did not address whether the Redskins name is offensive or racist.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I think the name comes from Habitants Canadiennes..
oh, and may they prevail against the evil Redwings!
"Redskin" is no more a "slur" than "Whiteskin" (me), and I do not feel slurred. Now "Whitey" or "White Boy" I would find offensive, but, as we all know, due to Free Speech, you DO NOT have the right to not be offended.
Grow a thicker skin, or you won't be able to enjoy life. You'll end up spending your life being "offended" and thinking everyone's out to get you.
May I propose "The Washington Rednecks as a politically correct alternative. I would welcome them to my community, surely they will have a winning season sometime.
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Sports teams choose names to convey an image of power and fearsomeness. Not as a way to offend potential paying customers.
They always take 2nd place behind my beloved Habs in the yearly "Best Jersey" poll.
Anyway, I don't find the term Redskin offensive, anymore than I find the term Redneck, which can also be applied to me, offensive. I thought the people at the meeting were pretty sad, as they run around playing Indian, acting like an idealized history of riding the plains and hunting buffalo is coming back.
Also, I would mention that one of the most famous Indians of all time:
was a Cowboy, and spent almost all of his career fighting the Redskins.
These guys are in DC, no? Then rename them in honor of Congress, something along the lines of the Washington Thieves.
As a Cowboy fan, I hate the Redskins (on the field), but I would be the biggest die hard ‘skin fan when it comes to them keeping their name and tradition. Hate the team, love the franchise. Isn’t that what the New Testament speaks to??
When Houston got another football franchise, I was hoping that they’d go to one of the suggested names, Roughnecks, instead of the almost generic Texans. That’s one of the things that’s become boring about team mascots; almost everything is generic now.
African-American-hawks? :)
By the way I’m proud to say I’m a Native American.
I was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, a part of America.
Thus I am a Native American.
“...I am NOT the least bit offended, in fact I love the Redskins....”
I love the Redskins, too. I love it when they walk off the field after being beaten like yard dogs by the Dallas Cowboys. That’s the case more times than not. It’s a historical fact.
Thanks!
Puppage said is meant: The Montreal Canadiens. NHL hockey team.
That logo is actually based on the offical name of the Montreal Canadiens franchise . . . the letters are the abbreviations for "Canadiens Hockey" in the team's full name (Le Club de Hockey Canadien).
They need to use the team names from ‘Baseketball’:
Milwaukee Beers
Miami Dealers
New Jersey Informants
San Francisco Ferries
Roswell Aliens
L.A. Riots
Dallas Felons
San Antonio Defenders
Detroit Lemons
An expert speaks!
Thanks!
ping
Those are great. Seriously, corporate guys always make stuff generic. The Texas Longhorns, Arkansas Razorbacks, Florida Gators, Michigan Wolverines, the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and in my Texas HS archives, I’ve got the Winters Blizzards, the Itasca Wampus Cats, the Muleshoe Mules, the Highland Park Scots, the Munday Moguls, the Cisco Loboes, and on and on. I just like the idea of the teams having a unique personality, and not being a cookie cutter concept. I think there should be a moratorium on naming teams Tigers, Bulldogs, Eagles, or Trojans.
Oh, and Lions. There should be a moratorium on naming teams the Lions.
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