The Redskins yesterday in federal court argued to overturn last year’s Trademark Trial & Appeal Board decision to invalidate the team’s logos because they are considered “disparaging” to Native Americans. Lawyers for the Native Americans who brought the successful action, however, argued that last week’s Supreme Court decision allowing the state of Texas to refuse to issue specialty license plates bearing the confederate flag strengthened the Board’s decision. Drinker, Beadle & Roth attorney Jesse Witten told THE DAILY after the hearing that if Texas can decide what license plates to issue, “the government can select what marks it includes in a federal registration program." Witten noted that U.S. District Judge Gerald Lee’s clerk notified the parties yesterday that he expected the sides to argue how the new Supreme Court decision affected their positions. Witten added that Lee told the parties he would announce a decision in “due course.” That could mean several weeks. In practice, were the Redskins marks to be invalidated, the team would still have trademarks. However, it would be harder to defend them in court without their inclusion in the federal registration program. The attorney for the Redskins could not immediately be reached for comment (Daniel Kaplan, Staff Writer).
REGRETS, I'VE HAD A FEW: In DC, Dan Steinberg writes former Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening, while occasionally driving past FedExField, "will glance at the stadium he helped bring to Prince George's County 20 years ago" and think to himself, "That was a mistake." Glendening feels FedExField "was doomed to mediocrity from the start." He said, "This is the mea culpa; I was actually part of the problem. It was just the wrong location." Glendening "felt he couldn't back" the building of the Ravens' M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore "without also supporting the Redskins plan." Glendening: "In an act that will probably not go down in Profiles in Courage, I threw in the towel. Subsequently, everything that I feared actually took place." Glendening said that he "remains proud of the Baltimore stadium," but he "feels the opposite" about FedExField. Glendening said of Redskins games: "People come an hour or two beforehand, have a not-totally-desirable tailgating experience, probably drink too much. And then when they get out, there is nothing to do, absolutely nothing, except get in a car and drive. What that means is a loss of economic opportunity." Steinberg: "So why bring all this up now? Because this area could see the arrival of three major new sports facilities in coming years: a Redskins stadium, a DC United stadium, and a relocated or redeveloped Pimlico Race Course." Glendening would "like civic and business leaders to establish smart-growth guidelines for such major sports facilities." Glendening: "Unless it has some kind of transit access, unless it has or will have walk-ability to other activities, unless it adds economic value well beyond the games played there, then we’re not interested" (WASHINGTON POST, 6/24).
