Redskins Trademark Ruling Gives Goodell Way to Change Stance

National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell has been given an opportunity to end a more than two-decade fight over the Washington Redskins’ team name without having to address whether it is racist.

A U.S. Patent and Trademark Office appeal board yesterday canceled the trademark registration for the term “Redskins,” declaring it to be “disparaging” of native Americans.