Blackletter

On July 3rd, the Washington Redskins announced that it would review its team name after nearly two decades of vigorously fighting legal challenges by Native Americans to keep it. Two registration cancellation actions filed in the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office[1] culminated in Pro-Football, Inc. v. Blackhorse, a decision by a federal district court in Virginia on July 8th, 2015, that the “REDSKINS” name and federally registered trademark was considered disparaging of Native Americans under Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act and therefore not eligible for federal trademark registration under U.S. trademark law. While the Redskins were appealing their registration cancellation decision to the Virginia federal appellate court, a landmark Supreme Court case, Matal v. Tam, held that the disparagement clause of Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act was unconstitutional for violating First Amendment free speech rights when it reviewed a trademark registration refusal by the USPTO of th