The Washington Redskins have announced that they will appeal a decision made to strip them of the trademark rights against their name.
The US patent office has declared that the term 'Redskins' is both disparaging and offensive towards Native American people.
As a result, the team have had six naming and trademark registrations cancelled, in the hope that they will change their brand name.
This is not the first time this has happened, however, with similar cases against them being issued in both 1999 and 2003 to no avail.
In a statement, the team's trademark attorney Bob Raskopf said: "We've seen this story before. And just like last time, today's ruling will have no effect at all on the team's ownership of and right to use the Redskins name and logo.
"We are confident we will prevail once again, and that the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's divided ruling will be overturned on appeal.
"This case is no different than an earlier case, where the Board cancelled the Redskins' trademark registrations, and where a federal district court disagreed and reversed the Board.
"As today's dissenting opinion correctly states, 'the same evidence previously found insufficient to support cancellation' here 'remains insufficient' and does not support cancellation."
Team owner Dan Snyder has repeatedly stated in the past that he will not be forced into changing the name of the Redskins.
However, the pressure is once again following the ruling, with even President Barack Obama commenting last year that it might be beneficial for Snyder to rebrand the franchise.
Joe McPhee
