The Trump administration has decided to stop fighting the Washington Redskins in a legal dispute over its trademarks.
As first reported by Politico Wednesday night, the Justice Department sent a letter to a federal appeals court arguing that a Supreme Court decision last week striking down a law banning disparaging trademarks means that the Redskins will win their court case.
“The Supreme Court’s decision in Matal v. Tam [the Slants’ case] controls the disposition of this case,” Justice Department Civil Division attorney Mark Freeman wrote in the letter to the Richmond, Va.,-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. “Consistent with Tam, the Court should reverse the judgment of the district court and remand the case with instructions to enter judgment in favor of Pro-Football.”
Last week’s Supreme Court decision revolved around an Asian-American dance-rock band called the Slants.
The court ruled in favor of the band’s leader, Simon Tam, who sued after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refused to register the band’s name, citing a legal provision that bans trademarks that “disparage … persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into contempt, or disrepute.”
After that decision, a lawyer for the NFL’s Redskins, Lisa Blatt, had contended the ruling “resolves the Redskins’ longstanding dispute with the government,” and that the team would be able to retain its federal trademark protection.
“The Supreme Court vindicated the team’s position that the First Amendment blocks the government from denying or canceling a trademark registration based on the government’s opinion,” she said.
The Redskins previously lost their case before a trial judge in Virginia and appealed to the 4th Circuit. The appeals court delayed that case while the Supreme Court considered the Slants case.
