UHLC Nota Bene

The United States Patent Office cancelled the Washington Redskins’ name trademark registrations today on the grounds that the team’s name is disparaging to Native Americans. For those interested in examining the legal aspects of this case, the decision to cancel these six trademarks is Blackhorse v. Pro-Football, Inc. , Cancellation Number 92046185.   The trademark was found to be in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1052(a) . For those interested in researching trademark law generally, the following resources may be useful: The United States Patent Office offers a Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) as well as a database for Trademark Status and Document Retrieval for those researching U.S. patents. Google also offers a search tool for U.S. patents. The World Intellectual Property Organization provides a database of international Patent Cooperation Treaty applications. HG.org maintains an introduction and guide to researching trademark law, along with lin...

On this date in legal history in 2001 the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin . While not a landmark case, it is interesting because few sports-related cases reach the U.S. Supreme Court. Martin was Casey Martin a professional golfer who suffers from Klippel Trenaunay Syndrome. This genetic defect causes abnormal growth of blood cells or the lymphatic system and causes pain and makes it difficult to walk, especially the distances involved in 18 holes of golf. Martin had played college golf at Stanford, where he had been a teammate of Tiger Woods, and wished to play professionally on the PGA tour and wanted to be allowed to ride in a golf cart between holes due to his medical condition.  The PGA denied Martin’s request and asserted that walking between holes was an integral part of the game and riding in a cart would provide Martin with an unfair advantage. Martin sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act.  The court ruled 7-2 i...

Can you feel that? I sure can. It’s beginning to feel like football season!   Although the professional football season is just around the corner it now seems like there is football news all year round.   The off-season is more than the draft or what free agent signed with what new team. The NFL football off-season is now full of stuff lawyers love; investigations and law-suits. The two big legal stories that dominated the professional off-season were the investigation of the New Orleans Saints for putting bounties on opposing players and the ongoing litigation over concussions suffered by former players.  In the first case the New Orleans Saints have been accused of putting bounties on players from opposing teams. What this means is that Saints defensive players were each putting up a certain amount of money and whoever knocked an opposing player out for a few plays, or for the rest of a game, was awarded the pot of money. This is, however, against NFL rules ...