{"id":8434,"date":"2015-01-09T15:50:10","date_gmt":"2015-01-09T23:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8434"},"modified":"2015-01-09T16:19:05","modified_gmt":"2015-01-10T00:19:05","slug":"justice-department-intervenes-lawsuit-involving-washington-redskins-trademark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8434","title":{"rendered":"Justice Department Intervenes in Lawsuit Involving Washington Redskins Trademark"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Friday, January 9, 2015<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>VIRGINIA<\/strong> &#8211; Earlier today, the government filed a notice of intervention in <strong>Pro-Football, Inc. v. Amanda Blackhorse, et al<\/strong>. telling the court that federal prosecutors will defend trademark issues involving alleged derogatory language, officials said.<\/p>\n<p>The case involved the Washington Redskins trademark registration.<\/p>\n<p>The United States will defend the constitutionality of the federal statute.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe Department of Justice is dedicated to defending the constitutionality of the important statute ensuring that trademark issues involving disparaging and derogatory language are dealt with fairly,\u201d said\u00a0<strong>Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Dana J. Boente,<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Federal prosecutors said they will defend the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office\u2019s U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, \u00a0officials said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Here are the facts and circumstances surrounding this case, according to federal officials.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In August 2006, five Native Americans, <strong>Amanda Blackhorse, Marcus Briggs, Philip Gover, Jillian Pappan and Courtney Tsotigh<\/strong>, sought the cancellation of six Washington Redskins trademark registrations under the Lanham Act on the grounds that the trademarks were disparaging to Native Americans at the time they were registered.<\/li>\n<li>A panel of the Appeal Board agreed and issued a June 18, 2014 decision that the registrations should be canceled.<\/li>\n<li>Pro-Football Inc., the owner of the Washington Redskins, filed a complaint in U.S. District Court on Aug. 14, 2014, against the five individuals who had petitioned the Appeal Board for invalidation of the Redskins trademarks.<\/li>\n<li>Pro-Football Inc. is challenging the constitutionality of federal law on the grounds that the act violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.<\/li>\n<li>The Lanham Act permits denial or cancellation of a trademark application if the trademark is disparaging or falsely suggests a connection with persons living or dead, institutions, beliefs or national symbols.<\/li>\n<li>The act further provides that if a private party believes that a trademark was improperly registered, the party may start review proceeding before the Appeal Board seeking to have the trademark canceled.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Assistant Attorney General Joyce R. Branda for the Civil Division<\/strong> said: \u00a0\u201cI believe strongly in the rights of all Americans to celebrate and maintain their unique cultural heritage.\u00a0 Going forward, we will strive to maintain the ability of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to make its own judgment on these matters, based on clear authorities established by law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In October, \u00a0<a title=\"Christian Science Monitor on Washington Redskins Logo\" href=\"http:\/\/www.csmonitor.com\/USA\/Sports\/2014\/1013\/Washington-Redskins-racist-What-do-the-Navajo-really-think\">the Christian Science Monitor reported <\/a>that\u00a0<strong>Navajo Nation president Ben Shelly<\/strong> was an honored guest of\u00a0<strong>Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder<\/strong>, sitting next to him during an\u00a0NFL game between the Redskins and Arizona Cardinals.<\/p>\n<p>And this viral photo of Native American leader is being hailed as a rebuttal to those who say the team\u2019s name is racist.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/a48aaf4dc76e67743be829b5fe91d5eb.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-8438\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/a48aaf4dc76e67743be829b5fe91d5eb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"a48aaf4dc76e67743be829b5fe91d5eb\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The newspaper stated that Public statements and opinion polls show mixed feelings on the name, and the photo \u2013 complete with Mr. Shelly in a Redskins cap \u2013 is raising more questions about a team name change.<\/p>\n<p>In April, a Navajo Nation Council committee had voted 9-2 in support of a bill called &#8220;Opposing the Use of Disparaging References to Native People in Professional Sports Franchises.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Federal prosecutors said the\u00a0United States is specifically authorized by federal statute to intervene in any federal action in which the constitutionality of an act of Congress is drawn into question.<\/p>\n<p>Intervention by the United States will not interfere with the timely adjudication of this action, they said.<\/p>\n<p>Bloomberg News Story dated June 2014 on Washington Redskins Trademark:<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5cu9pFvmP8A\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Friday, January 9, 2015 VIRGINIA &#8211; Earlier today, the government filed a notice of intervention in Pro-Football, Inc. v. Amanda Blackhorse, et al. telling the court that federal prosecutors will defend trademark&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[1113],"class_list":["post-8434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-washington-redskins"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Justice Department Intervenes in Lawsuit Involving Washington Redskins Trademark<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Federal Government will Intervene in Washington Redskins Trademark case\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8434\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Justice Department Intervenes in Lawsuit Involving Washington Redskins Trademark\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Federal Government will Intervene in Washington Redskins Trademark case\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8434\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-09T23:50:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-01-10T00:19:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/washington_redskins_helmet-10153.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"713\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8434#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8434\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Justice Department Intervenes in Lawsuit Involving Washington Redskins Trademark\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-09T23:50:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-10T00:19:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8434\"},\"wordCount\":569,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8434#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/01\\\/washington_redskins_helmet-10153.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Washington Redskins\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Home Main Slider\",\"U.S. Department of Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8434#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8434\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8434\",\"name\":\"Justice Department Intervenes in Lawsuit Involving Washington Redskins Trademark\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8434#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8434#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/01\\\/washington_redskins_helmet-10153.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-09T23:50:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-10T00:19:05+00:00\",\"description\":\"Federal Government will Intervene in Washington Redskins Trademark case\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8434\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=8434#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/01\\\/washington_redskins_helmet-10153.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/01\\\/washington_redskins_helmet-10153.jpg\",\"width\":713,\"height\":512},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\"&quot;Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.&quot; \u2014  Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Justice Department Intervenes in Lawsuit Involving Washington Redskins Trademark","description":"Federal Government will Intervene in Washington Redskins Trademark case","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8434","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Justice Department Intervenes in Lawsuit Involving Washington Redskins Trademark","og_description":"Federal Government will Intervene in Washington Redskins Trademark case","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8434","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2015-01-09T23:50:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-01-10T00:19:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":713,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/washington_redskins_helmet-10153.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8434#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8434"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Justice Department Intervenes in Lawsuit Involving Washington Redskins Trademark","datePublished":"2015-01-09T23:50:10+00:00","dateModified":"2015-01-10T00:19:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8434"},"wordCount":569,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8434#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/washington_redskins_helmet-10153.jpg","keywords":["Washington Redskins"],"articleSection":["Home Main Slider","U.S. Department of Justice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8434#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8434","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8434","name":"Justice Department Intervenes in Lawsuit Involving Washington Redskins Trademark","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8434#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8434#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/washington_redskins_helmet-10153.jpg","datePublished":"2015-01-09T23:50:10+00:00","dateModified":"2015-01-10T00:19:05+00:00","description":"Federal Government will Intervene in Washington Redskins Trademark case","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8434"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8434#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/washington_redskins_helmet-10153.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/washington_redskins_helmet-10153.jpg","width":713,"height":512},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":"&quot;Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.&quot; \u2014  Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8434"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8446,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8434\/revisions\/8446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}