ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Lawyers for the NFL's Washington Redskins urged a U.S. federal judge on Tuesday to reinstate six trademark registrations that were canceled last year for being offensive to Native Americans.
A U.S. Patent and Trademark Office tribunal, in making its ruling, had said it found that at least 30 percent of Native Americans found the name "Redskins" disparaging from 1967 to 1990, when the trademarks were registered.
The Redskins appealed the ruling to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, filing suit last August against the five Native Americans who successfully convinced the administrative tribunal at the patent office to void the trademarks.