Can the government revoke the Washington Redskins’ trademark just because it is seen as offensive?
Four professors at Widener University’s Delaware Law School say no.
The U.S. Patent Office withdrew the NFKL team’s trademark last year because a Native American group said it was disparaging.
The Wilmington New Journal reports that the four were among the 18 who filed a friend of the court brief backing the football team.
Dean Rod Smolla told the paper that he personally would change the name of the team but added it was not the government’s decision to make.
That, he said, should be left to the market place.
The brief called the decision by the Patent Office a brazen exercise in viewpoint discrimination.
