Washington NFL Franchise Retires Name and Logo

[officeglenn]

3 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

Regarding the trademark issue that's been brought up a bunch of times (them continuing to sell their old stuff just to maintain the trademark) didn't courts rule that they can't have a trademark on it?  Or was it just the name?  I could swear that there's something about not being able to trademark slurs or 'hate speech' or something like that.

 

3 minutes ago, rjrrzube said:

Actually, the ruling in another case acknowledged that you CAN trademark something that somebody else could find offensive. Case involved a band with Asian musicians that called themselves The Slants. 

 

Here's a piece from USA Today from 2018: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2018/01/18/appeals-court-vacates-decisions-canceled-redskins-trademark-registrations/1046758001/

 

Basically, lower courts did try to cancel the Redskins' trademarks, but that was overturned on appeal.

 

Quote

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Thursday vacated decisions that had canceled the Washington NFL team’s federal trademark registrations, officially ending a legal fight that lasted more than 25 years.

 

Legally speaking, the team won. Culturally speaking, Native American petitioners believe they did.

 

“We said the term ‘Redskins’ is disparaging and the courts agreed with us,” petitioner Amanda Blackhorse told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s just that now the Supreme Court says it’s OK to register a disparaging term.”

 

The Fourth Circuit’s decision has been inevitable since June, when the Supreme Court decided in another case that the disparagement clause of the Lanham Act is unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds. The Blackhorse case depended on that section of the 1946 law.

 

The case mentioned in the last paragraph there is the case involving The Slants. https://www.finnegan.com/en/insights/blogs/incontestable/supreme-court-rules-disparagement-clause-of-the-lanham-act-unconstitutional.html

[Carolingian Steamroller]

I wonder about the use of this helmet design. 

 

The

Theoretically, if you use the "Redhawks" you could keep feather imagery (much as various Blackhawks redesigns have done) but I think it would definitely fall into the category of abiding by the letter and not the spirit of the change.

Using the script "R" on its own might be a viable path though, until a full rebrand can go through. 

[lahaye7]

1 hour ago, Bluefalcon said:

[MOD EDIT: Trolling and attempting to derail. Per this post, review is underway for disciplinary action.]

 

Seriously, I think Washington Gridlock would make the most sense.

I read that as Grimlock, I was like AWESOME! 

[oldschoolvikings]

52 minutes ago, infrared41 said:

 

Pretty sure that's not what OldSchoolVikings was referring to. Experience is a wonderful thing.

 

The headlines about the team getting popped write themselves.

[Tygers09]

Face it... Go ahead and try to think of a specific/logical/ reasonable team name. Because whatever name the team decides, someone or some people are going to critize or hate it. You cant please everyone.

[infrared41]

1 minute ago, oldschoolvikings said:

54 minutes ago, infrared41 said:

 

Pretty sure that's not what OldSchoolVikings was referring to. Experience is a wonderful thing.

 

The headlines about the team getting popped write themselves.

 

OK, that cracked me up.

[oldschoolvikings]

1 minute ago, Tygers09 said:

You cant please everyone.

 

Pizza buffet?

[Moseph]

I've been a Redskins fan for the last 20 years, so while I get that some find the name offensive and that this is a sponsorship driven move, it's sad to see 88 years of history and tradition go as well. I was hoping they'd change the name but leave the logos and uniforms alone but obviously that's not gonna happen. I'm not really sure what direction I hope they go in as nothing as really stuck out to me yet. I definitely want them to keep the color scheme that way there will be some connection to the past, but I don't really care if they go with an 'R' name or not because HTTR will always mean Hail to the Redskins.

 

Does anyone know what might happen to Redskins stuff in the Hall of Fame? I've never been so I don't know what it's like there but will the name and logos be allowed? It would be weird if they removed all of it from places like that because the great players from the past were never a part of whatever the new team name will be.

[infrared41]

1 minute ago, Tygers09 said:

Face it... Go ahead and try to think of a specific/logical/ reasonable team name. Because whatever name the team decides, someone or some people are going to critize or hate it. You cant please everyone.

 

There is a firm grasp of the obvious and then there is taking the obvious and choking it to death.

[OnWis97]

33 minutes ago, oldschoolvikings said:

 

Pizza buffet?

During a pandemic? Not pleasing...

[coggs]

3 hours ago, tigerslionspistonshabs said:

 

That would be just as bad as Redskins at this point.

Yeah, so? It is not Native American based and the perfect way for Snyder to say F you to everyone.

[skip88]

mod edit 

 

[GhostOfNormMacdonald]

Preemptive mod edit

[Mingjai]

1 hour ago, Moseph said:

Does anyone know what might happen to Redskins stuff in the Hall of Fame? I've never been so I don't know what it's like there but will the name and logos be allowed? It would be weird if they removed all of it from places like that because the great players from the past were never a part of whatever the new team name will be.

Who knows. My best guess would be any unnecessary references to the team name would go, but the logo would probably stay.

[Chromatic]

Washington Wildcats

 

 

[daniel75]

Washington Historians 

[Gothamite]

1 hour ago, Moseph said:

Does anyone know what might happen to Redskins stuff in the Hall of Fame? I've never been so I don't know what it's like there but will the name and logos be allowed? It would be weird if they removed all of it from places like that because the great players from the past were never a part of whatever the new team name will be.

 

It probably should be removed, or at the very least accompanied by a disclaimer that it is a product of its time and nobody today endorses the racism it represents.  But my suspicion is that they'll just leave everything as-is.

[j'villejags]

18 hours ago, kimball said:

I am not a fan of the names floating out there on the internet -- Warriors, Redtails, Red Wolves, etc. -- for a number of reasons. I really like the Redtails name out of the bunch, but as mentioned earlier in the thread it would probably come off as pandering and cause another whole set of issues that could affect the team financially. Could. But, for obvious reasons, I'm not going down that road.

 

I think there are some great names out there for the team to use. I am sure they'll go with Washington as the location identifier, but why not DC? It could work with the right name.

*Snipped*

 

UNUSED/UNDER USED NAMES

Dragons

*Snipped*

 

But, then again, who knows? If they were going to keep the native imagery, my money would have been a swap for Warriors. It'll be interesting to see what happens. 

 

I like the idea of using DC. DC Dragons would raise some eyebrows as an odd choice but could offer some unique branding opportunities. Probably won't happen with the XFL's Seattle Dragons being a thing recently but I am kind of hoping for something completely out of left field like this. Give me a scaly Game of Thrones dragon breathing fire out of the tunnel. 

 

[SFGiants58]

3 hours ago, Gothamite said:

 

It probably should be removed, or at the very least accompanied by a disclaimer that it is a product of its time and nobody today endorses the racism it represents.  But my suspicion is that they'll just leave everything as-is.

 

MOD EDIT: This conversation has nothing to do with Early Wynn or his hat. Do not to drag that particular logo into this conversation.

[Chromatic]

18 minutes ago, j'villejags said:

 

I like the idea of using DC. DC Dragons would raise some eyebrows as an odd choice but could offer some unique branding opportunities. Probably won't happen with the XFL's Seattle Dragons being a thing recently but I am kind of hoping for something completely out of left field like this. Give me a scaly Game of Thrones dragon breathing fire out of the tunnel. 

 

 

I really doubt they'll jump from an extremely traditional brand to something like 'Dragons'. That name just reeks of 'X-Treme'.