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A federal judge has ordered the Patent and Trademark Office to cancel registration of the Washington Redskins' trademark, ruling that the team name may be disparaging to Native Americans. The ruling Wednesday by Judge Gerald Bruce Lee affirms an earlier finding by an administrative appeal board.

The American Civil Liberties Union is siding with the Washington Redskins in a court battle over the team’s name. The ACLU filed papers last week supporting the team’s position that canceling the Redskins trademark violates the team’s free-speech rights. […] On Monday, lawyers for the Native Americans who challenged the trademark said the ACLU should not be allowed to intervene in the case. …

Columbia? Taken. Mississippi? Taken. Sacramento? El Niño? Marlin? Grizzly? Sorry, they're all taken. Virtually every large city, notable landscape feature, creature and weather pattern of North America — as well as myriad other words, concepts and images — has been snapped up and trademarked as the name of either a brewery or a beer. For newcomers to the increasingly crowded industry of more than 3,000 breweries, finding names for beers, or even themselves, is increasingly hard to do without risking a legal fight. Candace Moon, aka The Craft Beer Attorney, is a San Diego lawyer who specializes in helping brewers...

The question of Barack Obama’s eligibility to occupy the Oval Office under the Constitution’s “natural born” citizen requirement is once again being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has refused to hear a number of previous cases. Judges have ruled Obama’s eligibility is a political question that is not for the courts to decide. They have argued the plaintiffs didn’t have “standing,” the requirement that they have sustained or will sustain direct injury or harm that can be redressed by a court. Now, however, a plaintiff has surfaced who claims he has suffered a specific and individual injury –...

Bert and Ernie Gay Marriage Cake Leaves Christian Bakery Facing Court Threat 07 Jul 2014 A Christian-run bakery is facing legal action from a Government agency for refusing to produce a cake carrying a picture of the Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie and the slogan “support gay marriage”. Ashers Baking Co, based in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, cancelled an order for a novelty cake with a picture of the puppets arm in arm printed onto the icing saying that it went against the directors’ religious beliefs. They believe that producing the cake with the slogan and the logo of QueerSpace,...

I'm just wondering if any Freeper lawyers out there know how Trademarking a cartoon character would work. Me and my brother have been working on a cartoon the past few months and we got the domain name and copyrighted the cartoon character, but now we want to trademark it with a logo so we can use it to sell junk, tee-shirts, coffee mugs etc etc ..IF it sells. Just getting ready before we post it on the web. So we went to a lawyer who told us it cost $2,500 just in the US alone to trademark it on the...

Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled that the name Redskins is 'disparaging of Native Americans' and, therefore, should not be afforded trademark protection any longer. This seems like a free-speech appeal just waiting to happen but in the meantime we should take a look at all the major American sports (sorry, soccer/futbol is still not one of them) and pick a few other nicknames that should be banned or at least left unprotected with trademark rights because they could be offensive to some people in the country. Major League Baseball 1.Royals - this name could be offensive to...

Sticks And Stones: Whatever one's view about the name "Redskins," the public should worry about the government bowing to political pressure and stripping a trademark nearly 80 years after it was first used. Where will it end? [snip] Surely the Cleveland Indians' mascot has to go. Chief Wahoo is a goofy cartoon depiction of a Native American, whereas the Redskins logo shows a dignified and stoic warrior. And how about the "Fighting Irish"? Doesn't that feed into the disparaging image of drunken Irishmen? Or the "Buccaneers" and the "Raiders," which seem to be derogatory terms for pirates? How many "Vikings"...

Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo roam Where the deer and the antelope play Where seldom is heard a disparaging word And the skies are now cloudy all day.Chorus: Home, home of the CHANGE® Where the deer and the antelope play Where seldom is heard a disparaging word And the skies are now cloudy all day.Forecast: Cloudy, with a chance of meatheadsToday’s reflection:What does it mean when the country that practically invented “free speech” now censors your trademarks for politically incorrect “disparaging” words? In what some see as the first step to forcing the Washington Redskins football team...

In a defiant statement issued Wednesday, the Washington Redskins said the team would appeal the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's decision to revoke the trademark to the team's name and logo on the grounds that they are offensive to Native Americans. The professional football team added that in the meantime, the ruling would have "no effect at all" on its trademark rights while the case is on appeal. The press release even put that in boldface and underlined it. "We are confident we will prevail once again, and that the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s divided ruling will be overturned...

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has canceled the Redskins' trademarks. The petitioners, consisting of five Native Americans, sought to cancel the trademarks based on a section of the Trademark Act that "prohibits registration of marks that may disparage persons or bring them into contempt or disrepute."

The Hershey Co. has sued a Colorado marijuana edibles company, claiming it makes four pot-infused candies that too closely resemble iconic products of the chocolate maker. The trademark infringement lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Denver this week against TinctureBelle LLC and TinctureBelle Marijuanka LLC. It alleges TinctureBelle's Ganja Joy, Hasheath, Hashees and Dabby Patty mimic Hershey's Almond Joy, Heath bar, Reese's peanut butter cups and York peppermint patty candies, respectively.

The real Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) isn't happy with the parody coffee shop calling itself Dumb Starbucks that's popped up in Los Angeles, and wants the faux baristas to drop the act. "We appreciate the humor but they can't use our name," Starbucks spokesman Jim Olson told CNNMoney. "It's a protected trademark. It's our trademark."

Washington (CNN) – The heated debate over the Washington Redskins name has now moved beyond living rooms and corporate offices to the U.S. government itself, with one agency making an unequivocal ruling that the term "Redskins" is offensive slang. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected an application to trademark the name "Redskins Hog Rind," writing that the term "Redskins" is "a derogatory slang term that refers to, and is considered offensive by, American Indians." The agency cited five definitions from online dictionaries - from The Oxford Dictionary to Yahoo – that labeled the word as offensive or disparaging. In...

<p>There will be no trademark for “Redskins Hog Rinds,” a bad omen for the Washington Redskins in the legal battle over their name. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected a request from a company to sell pork rinds using the word “Redskins” because it deemed the term to be “derogatory slang.”</p>

Starbucks Corp has failed to persuade a federal appeals court to stop a small, family-owned New Hampshire roaster from selling coffee known as "Charbucks." Ruling in a case that began in 2001, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Black Bear Micro Roastery and its owner, Wolfe's Borough Coffee Inc., may keep selling "Charbucks Blend," "Mister Charbucks" and "Mr. Charbucks" coffee.

The Slants, a six-member band from Portland, Ore., calls their sound "Chinatown Dance Rock" — a little bit New Order, a little bit Depeche Mode. They describe themselves as one of the first Asian-American rock bands. Their music caters to an Asian-American crowd, they've spoken at various Asian-American events, and they're proud of all of it. But the Slants have been duking it out with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) over the past four years because of their name. The PTO refused the band's two trademark applications, saying that "slants" is a disparaging term for people of...

WASHINGTON – The American Freedom Law Center has filed a notice of appeal in the United States Court of Appeals on behalf of political activists Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, who have been refused permission by the government to trademark their “Stop Islamization of America” campaign. Geller, a WND columnist, and Spencer head the human rights organization called Freedom of Defense Initiative, and they applied to register SIOA as a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

When Patrick Wensink was commissioning the cover for his book, Broken Piano For President, he probably wasn’t expecting a cease-and-desist letter from Jack Daniel’s Properties — the owner of the Jack Daniel’s trademarks. Looking at the cover for the book, it’s easy to see why the Jack Daniel’s people might take issue with the design. The typeface isn’t exactly the same, but the border and presentation is a dead-ringer for the classic black label of that sweet, sweet Tennessee whiskey. Usually when we write about trademark disputes, one party claims that another party is using its size to “bully” to...

Politico has discovered the Sarah Palin of 2012, and it's: Sarah Palin. Though the years since 2008 have seen her wild popularity and seeming omnipresence fade, she's edging back into the 2012 election with a string of successful endorsements. She's made four so far, and two have won their respective primary races; the other two races have yet to be decided. For comparison: Rick Santorum has also been making endorsements, "to no great effect," Politico notes. If Palin's picks continue to do well, she can use her success as evidence of her continued influence. "There is a vacuum on the...