Posted on 06/20/2014 4:35:05 AM PDT by Kaslin
Editor's note: This column was co-authored by Tim Graham.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office found its way to the front page by declaring the word "Redskins" was offensive and therefore unworthy of trademark protection under a 1946 law that proscribes trademarks for "immoral, deceptive, or scandalous matter."
MSNBC anchor Joy-Ann Reid reported this news with an obscenity warning before airing a clip of Sen. Harry Reid: "And I just warn people, he does use the name of the team. So, I'm just going to warn you guys about that in advance." She's not alone. Liberal sports writers refuse to type the word in their columns.
Welcome to the latest controversy where the left, which has removed every moral objection to traditional understandings of profanity, continues its own crusade to ban words that violate their sensitivities on race, gender and sexual preference. A quick review of the PTO's record shows this was an overtly political decision -- surely aimed at or requested by the White House. Why?
Try to find an example in eight years of the George W. Bush presidency where the PTO made a controversial decision about an allegedly offensive trademark. It's nowhere to be found in the Washington Post archives, and certainly not touted on its front page and at the top of the editorial page, as this was, as a "victory for tolerance."
So are we to believe that with a new regime calling the shots, the PTO has cracked down on racially charged names? Well ... no. Last summer, it approved the phrase "Dago Swagg," despite the insult to Italian-Americans, as well as "Uppity Negro." Where "racial" is concerned, it depends on what "is" is.
An article by Jerome Gilson and Anne Gilson LaLonde in the September/October 2011 edition of Trademark Reporter laid out a broader history of the PTO's inconsistency in trademark approvals and refusals. Exhibit A is the acronym "MILF," for "mothers I would like to f---." Twenty applications using this term were refused a trademark because they were immoral ... and 20 of them were not.
Nine uses became registered trademarks, including "Diary of a MILF," "MILF Magnet," MILF Next Door," "Backroom MILF," "MILF Workout" and even "Fat MILF."
The PTO found insufficient evidence that the term "Cumbrella" for condoms was scandalous, while refusing other variants of the term. "Big Pecker Brand" was approved, since it came with an illustration of a bird with a large beak, giving it an "alternative, nonvulgar meaning."
Also approved were "Old Glory" condoms, complete with the flag in the shape of that item. The maker pitched it as patriotic, not offensive. The back of each package carried an "Old Glory Pledge" that "We believe it is patriotic to protect and save lives." The agency agreed that the company's brand sought to "redefine patriotism to include the fight against sexually-transmitted diseases, including AIDS."
Medical terms for genitals aren't offensive, apparently. These are registered trademarks: "Penis Parody" and "I Love Vagina" clothing and "Vagina Guitars."
Drug use isn't controversial. "Cokaine" is a registered trademark, and "Cocaine" has been approved for several companies over the last 20 years. So was "Paris Heroin," registered from 2003 to 2010. Even "God Loves Marijuana" was registered for shirts and hats in that same time frame.
The left doesn't oppose disparaging terms when the cause is leftist. "Dykes on Bikes" was successfully registered by lesbian "pride" activists in 2007. A woman named Ava Watkins received approval for a "Twatty Girl" trademark for caps, jogging suits and women's underwear.
But say the word "Redskins," and the left collectively faints. In the case of the "R-word," a majority of the community has never been offended. Even a majority of the Indians have never been offended. But the left's crusade, using Obama's PTO, continues.
Finding USPTO inconsistency is the tip of the iceberg. The federal courts deserve scorn and ridicule for their massive number of political and social engineering decisions, which tend to be logically disconnected as well as detached from or contrary to precedent.
Government cannot prevent people from being offended. The world offends.
It is not the role of government to attempt this.
This is not about whether or not someone is offended by something - remember - EVERYONE will be offended by SOMETHING. The world offends.
Do not allow the discussion to be about whether or not someone is offended - that’s not the issue AND that’s an automatic losing argument. That’s why they set it up that way.
The discussion is whether the Fed Gov should be trying to use force to prevent us from being offended. Do you want this government to have that power? They want the gov’t to have the power.
But that’s preposterous b/c just them doing this offends me. So why is it allowed? B/C the policies will be enforced according to political lines. Just like everything in this regime.
We do have two parties;
- the government party [made up of a left and a right]
- a TEA party [made up of non-government.]
I’m real glad you are loving it because it is your team they are coming after next.
It is
...”MSNBC anchor Joy-Ann Reid reported this news with an obscenity warning before airing a clip of Sen. Harry Reid: “And I just warn people, he does use the name of the team. So, I’m just going to warn you guys about that in advance.” She’s not alone. Liberal sports writers refuse to type the word in their columns”...
This is just one of the many signs of a media in severe decline and a nation going down.
This attack on the Redskins is nothing new.
The same group types/mentalities were all bent out of shape several years ago with a variety of community names they deemed offensive. They were demanding the offending communities change their names and that the map companies reprint all of the maps.
These group types/mentalities make careers out of finding something to be offended at.
If/when they succeed in getting the Redskins name changed, they will go on to some other company or product or community or similar name to be offended by. Notice that these demands for change always come from as few as ONE complaint.
The redskins were hammered down on specifically because the owner expressed defiance to the fedgov over the name.
If he’d been more subtle and obsequious, they would have kept badgering, but wouldn’t have taken such a tyrannical route with him.
The team needs to sue the individual bureaucrats for attempting to impose their goofy religion on Football.
The money damages of a “lost” trademark are easy to calculate. Let’s send the whackos that bill.
Your description of them sounds like the atheists that go around looking for symbols of God that ‘offend’ people.
hahahahahahahahha
So you think Jerry Jones is going to play footsie with them or anyone else? Compared to Jerry, Snyder is a lightweight when it comes to stirring the pot in public.
The Redskins were convenient not only because of their name but more for where they call home. It really doesn’t matter what the team mascot name is, they are coming after every one of them because they hate the sport. Everything is too big to fail unless they decide they are.
This needs to start happening at all levels of government.
When anyone acting as an agent of the gov’t imposes their will on someone, and that causes the person to experience damages,
the gov’t agent needs to be held personally accountable.
No. Cowboys are mostly white male and white males cannot be offended.
You miss the point. The same bunch that raised objections to Redskiins will do the same for Cowboys because of their history of beating down the injuns. You have to get into the mindset of the PC nuts to have an idea of what is coming next.
I mean really, what is white and male that has not been attacked by the PC hoards?
Oh, ‘think like a liberal’. OK, I see it now.
Dang Cowboys!
The pc crowd are getting their media cohorts to make Washington [*bleep*] into an evil word.
Not long ago, they tried to get another word [*bleeped*], but that effort fell flat.
“I’m real glad you are loving it because it is your team they are coming after next.”
You are probably correct. The word Cowboys can offend on multiple levels:
1) Cruelty to animals
2) Gender intolerance
3) White privilege
We are being conditioned for overt regulation of speech. Hate speech laws are coming as is burning of books, censorship of the newsroom and the internet, and imposed “fairness” in talk radio.
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