US Patent Office Rules Redskins Name Is Offensive, Cancels Trademarks

[diablo rojo]

- from the Washington Post:

http://m.washingtonpost.com/local/us-patent-office-cancels-redskins-trademark-registration-says-name-is-disparaging/2014/06/18/e7737bb8-f6ee-11e3-8aa9-dad2ec039789_story.html

In addition, Native Americans have won at this stage before, in 1999. But the team and the NFL won an appeal to federal court in 2009. The court did not rule on the merits of the case, however, but threw it out, saying that the plaintiffs didn’t have standing to file it. The team is likely to make the same appeal this time.

Robert Raskopf, a lawyer who has been representing the team since the first case was filed in 1992,*was not concerned about the ruling.

“We’ve seen this story before,” he said. “And just like last time, today’s ruling will have no effect at all on the team’s ownership of and right to use the Redskins name and logo.

[xplosiv]

Remember in the early 90's when they tried to get technology/automotive companies to quit using the terms master and slave?

[Baron Von Crowder]

Remember in the early 90's when they tried to get technology/automotive companies to quit using the terms master and slave?

LOL stupid white people.

[line-em-up]

I remember reading an article about 10-15 years ago that listed the words that couldn't be used when selling a house. It was ridiculous. Here is something regarding that.

============
You can't say that ... in a real estate ad!

Gabriella Morrongiello • | January 15, 2014 | 12:00 am

Topics: Op-Eds Freedom of Speech Political Correctness

Photo - Real estate agents are avoiding once-popular terms such as "master bedroom," "handyman's dream" and "walking distance" in an effort to stay politically correct. (AP File)
Real estate agents are avoiding once-popular terms such as "master bedroom," "handyman's dream"...

Looking to sell your family-friendly, two-bedroom condominium within walking distance of the local grocery store? Don’t expect your real estate agent to advertise it as such.

The push to eradicate words and phrases from commercial vernacular that might be considered remotely insensitive has appeared once more with the folly of political correctness now spreading to real estate advertising.

The regulatory impact on marketing in real estate became apparent last April when a Washington Business Journal survey revealed that major homebuilders in the Washington, D.C. area had ditched the term “master bedroom” due to its racist connotation and replaced it with the more neutral “owner’s suite.”

In 1968, the Fair Housing Act banned the use of discriminatory phrases like “whites only” or “Jewish community” and was amended in 1988 to include families and handicapped individuals on its list of protected classes.

The 1988 amendments also enabled individuals who found an ad offensive to take legal action by filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The obvious cases of race and class discrimination that the FHA once targeted for elimination have now been replaced by a level of censorship that borders on the absurd.

“You can say ‘family room,’ but not ‘family home.’ We avoid anything gender-specific like ‘his-and-her’s closets or baths,” said Beth Brody, a licensed Realtor in Marin County, Calif.

According to Brody, her agency has “mandatory risk management three or four times a year” during which appropriate advertising is occasionally addressed. Furthermore, her agency now has its own advertising department that monitors the language of its Realtors’ listings.

“When I decide to place an ad, if there’s something offensive, he’ll give it back to me and say ‘you’re not allowed to use that,’ ” Brody said.

Brody said the list of potentially offensive buzzwords has expanded over the years and partially attributes this to the FHA’s addition of disabled persons as a protected class and “the many changes in what defines a family.”

Although a memorandum issued by HUD in 1995 listed phrases like ‘bachelor pad’ and ‘mother-in-law unit’ as non-violations of the FHA, political correctness and hypersensitivity now indicate otherwise.

This past August, a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a ruling and awarded the Miami Valley Fair Housing Center a new trial in a federal discrimination lawsuit over an Ohio apartment listing for a “bachelor pad.”

According to the most recent Annual Report on Fair Housing for Fiscal Year 2011, “HUD charged the highest number of cases (55) in a single year since FY 2002, despite a 25 percent reduction in its fair housing staff during the previous two years.”

“We have become an extremely litigious society. People will find anything to create a suit and there are attorneys out there who are more than happy to accommodate them,” said Randy Haak, an agent with the national real estate agency Better Homes and Gardens.

Lesley Walker, associate counsel at the National Association of Realtors, believes that since “our culture and society are now more in tune with the sensitivities of more groups of people,” the room for interpretation has certainly increased.

“I think we’re more aware and educated and so [we are] taking more precautions not to inadvertently or expressly discriminate against a specific class of people,” said Walker.

Although HUD has never issued an official list of terms to avoid, the Northwest Multiple Listings Service — an online portal of property listings available to real estate agents — issued a list of “potentially offensive words” developed by its attorneys that provide further examples of the aforementioned “precautions.”

Some of the words and descriptions that “should never be used in a listing” include, but are not limited to: newlyweds, country club nearby, handyman’s dream, safe neighborhood, secure, and walking distance to.

“We have an agent in town who will get up at MLS meetings and challenge someone who has listed something as being “close to the plaza,” because one person’s idea of close is not the same as another’s,” said Haak, adding that “agents have now been trained to say, ‘three blocks to the plaza,’ since ‘walking distance’ could be prejudicial against someone in a wheelchair.”

Additionally, some real estate agents are now advising their clients to remove the American flag when photographing a listing.

“For my company, that’s a precautionary action. We want to neutralize the house to appeal to the greatest pool of buyers, so we want to keep the focus on the house and not be distracted by anything political and an American flag could be political,” said Brody.

Should we really be removing the stars and stripes when homeownership has always been central to the American dream?

http://washingtonexaminer.com/you-cant-say-that-...-in-a-real-estate-ad/article/2542179

[asphaltjunkie]

What about the Cincinnati Reds, or the Cleveland Indians? Atlanta Braves? Chicago Blackhawks?

Sent from my fat ass phone

[bcoop]

What about the Cincinnati Reds, or the Cleveland Indians? Atlanta Braves? Chicago Blackhawks?

Sent from my fat ass phone

Chicago Blackhawks doesn't count. Chicago is exempt because Obama.

[Captain Crawfish]

BS lots of things are offensive but pulling the name is a joke. America is unravelling

[Chili]

What about the Cincinnati Reds, or the Cleveland Indians? Atlanta Braves? Chicago Blackhawks?

Sent from my fat ass phone

Reds is non specific, Indians, Braves and Blackhawks are just names and not otherwise offensive. There's a reason entities using names like that are ok. Like Jeep using Cherokee and the military names helicopters Chinook, Blackhawk, Apache..

I do think the Redskins thing is silly though.

[Forever_frost]

[Baba Ganoush]

My buddies' old lady is one of those extreme Redskin fans. All it takes is a well timed "are gee three" comment to set her off.

You could change the name/logo and persecute all who "spread hate", that bitch will still wear her jersey.

[03trubluGT]

The Redskin name has been around since about 1933. If you weren't born before that, and you aren't a native american, dont see you have a complaint.

[CyaNide]

Chicago Blackhawks doesn't count. Chicago is exempt because Obama.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that Obama isn't much of a hockey fan. Just a thought.

CN

[TRAILBLAZER]

Out of all the Indians (non, red-dot forehead kind )

This many, --> <-- give two shits about nicknames.

They care when the check is showing up and where can you buy Thunderbird wine cheap.

[FastFox]

Trademarks that need to go.

Rams........sexist
Forty Niners.......wrecked the land by digging for gold
Saints.....Religeous
Vikings......Harsh looters and bad guys
Dolphins.......Offensive to all other sea creatures
Texans.......Refers to only one set of people
Yankees......Refers to the Civil War
Indians......Like the Redskins
Braves.......Same
Orioles.......Leaves out all other birds
Eagles.......Winged killers that prey on other animals
Wolves......Harsh killers of other animals
Wildcats......Indicates that cats are not docil pets
Seahawks.....Another Bird of prey
Oilers.......Praises fossil fuel
Longhorns.......Makes fun of animals with no horns
Trojans.......Pays omage to warlike men. And , promotes thinking of sex.

And the list goes on and on, but the worst of all......COKE. This one speaks for itself.

[71chevellejohn]

I'm not sure the Rams is sexist any more now that they've got the gay guy.