Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- A group of Indians who say the Washington Redskins are perpetuating a racial stereotype asked the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a trademark challenge to the football team’s name.

The appeal, the latest chapter in a 17-year legal fight, is from a lower court ruling that said the Indians waited too long to file a claim that the name is offensive and not entitled to trademark protection. The protection gives the Redskins exclusive power to make and sell products bearing the team’s logo.

The petitioners are members of different federally recognized Indian tribes: Cheyenne and Arapaho, Oneida of Wisconsin, Cochiti Pueblo, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, Navajo, Oglala Sioux and Standing Rock Sioux. The brief argues that all of them have faced “insult, degradation and humiliation resulting from the use of the derogatory term ‘redskins.’”

The initial challenge to the name was filed in 1992. In 1999, an appeals board for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled that the name is offensive and stripped the protection. A series of federal court rulings ensued, and the National Football League team ultimately prevailed in May when a three- judge appeals court in Washington dismissed the trademark challenge because of the delays in bringing the claim.

Team’s Argument

The Redskins have argued that they invested millions of dollars marketing the team name and are entitled to exclusivity.

The Supreme Court has been asked to consider the time- limit issue, and a victory for the Indians would permit further proceedings in the lower courts. Even if the Redskins were to lose the trademark protection, the team could still keep the name and market its products, though with increased competition.

Philip Mause, a lawyer for the Indians, said their goal is to remove “an implied federal government approval” of the name. “The Native Americans feel they’re kind of being treated in a way that society would not tolerate any other group being treated,” he said.

Mause, of the law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, said there is a “trend toward schools and universities abandoning Indian mascots.” The Redskins are using a “racial epithet,” he said.

Karl Swanson, a spokesman for the Redskins, referred inquiries to Robert Raskopf, of the law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges LLP. Raskopf said he hadn’t seen the filing and couldn’t comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at jsalant@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 15, 2009 16:58 EDT