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NFL notebook: Judge cancels Redskins’ trademark
The Sports Xchange
A federal judge ordered the cancellation of the Washington Redskins’ federal trademark registration, ruling the team name was disparaging to Native Americans.
The Redskins lost in court Wednesday when U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee — in his 70-page ruling — ordered the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to schedule cancellation of six federal trademark registrations owned by the club.
The cancellation does not go into effect until the Redskins have exhausted the appeals process in the federal court system. The judge emphasized that the team remains free to use the name as it chooses and that the ruling means only that the team loses the specific legal protections of its federal registrations.
The Redskins will appeal the decision to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond.
“I am surprised by the judge’s decision to prevent us from presenting our evidence in an open trial,” Redskins president Bruce Allen said in a statement. “We look forward to winning on appeal after a fair and impartial review of the case. We are convinced that we will win because the facts and the law are on the side of our franchise that has proudly used the name Redskins for more than 80 years.”
—The New York Giants’ athletic trainer has departed South Florida without getting a chance to see injured defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, according to reports Wednesday.
Giants officials, including vice president of medical services Ronnie Barnes, had arrived in Miami on Monday hoping to visit the 26-year-old Pierre-Paul, who is at Jackson Memorial Hospital after injuring his hands in a Fourth of July fireworks accident.
Pierre-Paul also declined the team’s offer to connect him with hand specialists in New York City, sources told FOX Sports.
—Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback C.J. Wilson injured his hand during a fireworks accident over the weekend.
The Tampa Bay Tribune reported that Wilson’s future with the Bucs may be in jeopardy as a result of a “severe hand injury” he suffered in the fireworks accident in his hometown of Lincolnton, N.C. Sources close to Wilson’s family told the Lincoln Times-News that the cornerback lost two fingers.
Wilson, 25, had been slated to begin his second season with the Bucs when training camp opens later this month. He appeared in two games for Tampa Bay in 2014, playing primarily on special teams and recording four tackles. Wilson is in the final season of a two-year deal that carries a non-guaranteed base salary of $585,000 for the 2015 season.
—The NFL reached agreement with Tottenham Hotspur for a minimum of two games per year to be played during a 10-year partnership at the English Premier League team’s new stadium in London.
Tottenham Hotspur is building a new home field to replace White Hart Lane, which is nearly 116 years old. The new 61,000-seat venue, adjacent to its current stadium, is due to open in the summer of 2018.
In addition to the minimum of two games per year at the new Tottenham site, other NFL games may take place at different venues in the UK during the span of the 10-year agreement.
The NFL has two seasons remaining on the arrangement with Wembley Stadium, where it has so far staged 11 games since 2007, and the league said it is optimistic that the relationship will be extended beyond 2016.
—Longtime NFL team executive Rod Graves has been hired as the NFL’s senior vice president of football administration and club services.
Graves will work in the NFL’s football operations department and “will oversee all club and game-related initiatives related to the Competition Committee, general managers and head coaches,” according to the league announcement. “Graves is responsible for the strategic development of coaching, scouting, officiating, and front office personnel, international players and coaches, the Combine series, college relations and the player pipeline.”
Graves was senior director of football administration for the New York Jets in 2013-14. He also was the Arizona Cardinals’ general manager from 2007 to 2012. He started in the NFL in 1984, when the Chicago Bears hired him as director of player personnel. He left the Bears in 1997 to join the Cardinals.
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