NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The Washington Redskins may keep using the team's name after a federal judge overturned an earlier ruling that would have ended copyright protections for the name because it disparaged Native Americans.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly overturned a 1999 decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, the body that rules on the legal standings of trademarks. She said in her decision Wednesday that she found no evidence that the name could be considered disparaging at the time that the trademark protections were first granted to the team in 1967.
"There is no evidence on the record that addresses whether the term "redskin(s)" in the context of a football team and related entertainment services would be viewed by a substantial composite of Native Americans, in the relevant time frame, as disparaging," said the judge in her decision.
"This is undoubtedly a 'test case' that seeks to use federal trademark litigation to obtain social goals," she added. "The problem, however, with this case is evidentiary. By waiting so long to exercise their rights, defendants make it difficult for any fact-finder to affirmatively state that in 1967 the trademarks were disparaging."
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U.S. trademark law does not afford the legal protections for trademarks seen as disparaging or slanderous. A loss in court by the team would not have required it to change its name. But it would have stripped it of legal protections it had to the trademark, allowing anyone to make apparel or other goods bearing the logo. Thus a loss would likely have prompted a change in the team name.
The team has maintained the name is not meant to be disparaging to Native Americans. Team spokesman Karl Swanson said the team is pleased by the decision, but would have to wait until lawyers had reviewed the case to decide how to proceed.
Michael Lindsey, attorney for the group of Native American who brought the case in 1992, said that he and his clients believe the TTAB had made the correct ruling and that they were disappointed by Wednesday's decision.
"We've been in this case for more than a decade. We'll be considering our several options at this point," he said.
Even if the court case is dropped, this will clearly not be the end of efforts by Native American activists to pressure the Redskins and other teams to drop Native American references from their names. Kollar-Kotelly did say that her decision, "should not be read as making any statement on the appropriateness of Native American imagery for team names."
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