Josh Gerben Talks with Fox Business About Trademark Strategies for New R*dSk*ns Team Name

Following the announcement that the Washington R*dsk*ns will rebrand their current name and logo, the NFL team is facing trademark issues over the preferred replacement. Various individuals have made speculative filings in an attempt to sell the trademark rights to the team.

Josh Gerben spoke with Fox Business about the cost of acquiring the trademark:

“Snyder can either pursue legal action to address trademark concerns on his desired team name or pay to acquire the trademark from its current owner. If Snyder attempts to acquire trademarked names, the cost will likely be in the hundreds of thousands rather than the millions of dollars.”

“The name of an NFL team needs to carry as little litigation risk as possible. If the team were to select a name that has already been filed by another individual, any litigation over the name is not worth the risk and negative public relations fallout.”

“Given the complications, Snyder is unlikely to pursue any of the names owned by outside individuals. Any attempt to buy them would set a bad precedent that would encourage other trademark filers to acquire key assets the team may need.”

“The new name for the Washington NFL team is likely to be a name that no one is speculating on, and, that Snyder’s lawyers are able to clear from a trademark perspective. It is also important that the team secure domain names and social media handles associated with the new name. So all of that would be part of the trademark clearance and acquisition process.”

Source: Barrabi, Thomas. “Washington NFL trademark issues complicate Redskins name change”. FoxBusiness.com. 13 July 2020.