U.S. Patent Office Cancels Washington Redskins' Trademarks
"You do not exist," said O’Brien.
An appeal board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has canceled the trademark registrations of the Washington Redskins on the grounds that the team's controversial name is disparaging to Native Americans.
Once again the sense of helplessness assailed him. He knew, or he could imagine, the arguments which proved his own nonexistence; but they were nonsense, they were only a play on words. Did not the statement, ‘You do not exist’, contain a logical absurdity? But what use was it to say so? His mind shrivelled as he thought of the unanswerable, mad arguments with which O’Brien would demolish him.
The ruling on Wednesday could give ammunition to critics who say the word Redskins is a term that is offensive to Native Americans and have urged Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder to change it.
"I think I exist," he said wearily. "I am conscious of my own identity. I was born and I shall die. I have arms and legs. I occupy a particular point in space. No other solid object can occupy the same point simultaneously. In that sense, does Big Brother exist?"
The immediate legal impact of the ruling, which can be appealed to federal court, could be limited, trademark experts said.
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