A forgotten right the government can’t take away

Peter Lemire //August 11, 2014//

A forgotten right the government can’t take away

Peter Lemire //August 11, 2014//

If you have followed the news lately, you’ve probably have heard about the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) board decision to cancel the Washington Redskin’s federal trademark registrations covering their name and graphical logo. The USPTO had determined that the term, “Redskin” and the graphical logo associated with the NFL team, violated trademark laws’ prohibition against scandalous or immoral subject matter at the time the mark was registered. 

It should be noted that this isn’t the first time the USPTO has come to such a conclusion with respect to the football team. The courts reversed the previous determination on a procedural issue regarding whether or not the individual that brought the cancellation action had standing to sue. It was interesting to see some of the initial commentary regarding the decision and the lack of knowledge about trademark law and the nature of trademark rights.

No matter your particular view of the underlying case, the situation with the Redskins is a good example of the public’s misperception of trademarks, how trademark rights are accrued, and why trademark registrations can carry more benefits in the eyes of the public than those actually conveyed under the law.

The most interesting aspect of the discussion is the mistaken belief that trademark rights are granted by the government. In fact, at the most basic base level, trademark rights are created by an individual or company’s use of a trademark to identify their goods or services in commerce. By naming your product “XYZ” and selling it in the marketplace you accrue what are called, “common law rights.” The longer you use it and more geographic areas your goods and services are sold, the strong your rights become.  These rights are not contingent on any government approval or certificate. 

However, while the federal registration does not create trademark rights per se, it does grant you certain extra add advantages. First and foremost, for smaller businesses the benefits of the federal registration definitely make sense as they will protect your mark nationwide, even if you haven’t sold product or provided your services in all 50 dates. This can be important if a company has plans to start regionally and slowly expand operations or a larger geographic region or even nationwide. 

Without a federal registration, a business could find itself in the position of looking to enter into a new market where another common law user has already established rights in that geographic area. Therefore you will either be barred from entering that area or, if you do work in that area, you will have to do so under a different name. This can severely hamper and make more costly marketing and brand awareness campaigns. Larger companies (e.g. Microsoft) don’t necessarily have this problem due to the fact that they can launch products and services nationwide. Therefore, they create common law rights in all geographic areas from the get-go. While federal registration is still important to larger companies, they will still have powerful rights even if they just rely on common law trademark rights.

As the 2014-2015 football season starts up, think twice about producing Redskins merchandise to line your pockets. Though the USPTO did cancel the Redskins federal trademark registrations, you are out of luck for cashing in on the brand.

The law still recognizes strong common law rights in the Redskins name and logo, and you will more likely find yourself on the other side of a lawsuit for trademark infringement and counterfeiting if you endeavor on that path. Furthermore, the team has vowed to appeal the USPTO’s ruling to the federal courts. Given the history of the case and the seemingly thin factual support for the USPTO’s decision, there stands a high likelihood that the Redskins would prevail on an appeal.