Bus 630 - Blackhorse V. Pro Football

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I think it is important not to intentionally offend anyone. I think offending large groups of people is bad for business in general. However, I do not think there is any way to create a law that will catch every case of discrimination or completely stop it altogether. I think the laws we have in place are doing the best they can and I do not see a way to change them and guarantee they will prevent everyone from being offended. Being offended is open to individual interpretation and I just do not see any way to guarantee that not every person on earth individually will be offended by the logo or trademark you select. Of course, common sense needs to be used when selecting a trademark. There are certain symbols and logos that have been associated with discrimination or periods of time that caused great grief to large numbers of people, and we are all aware of what those symbols and logos are. Obviously, common sense tells business owners to avoid these and the laws in place will prevent people from using them. I think that the laws we currently have in place do the best job possible governing something that is left open to the interpretation of every individual.

Works Cited

15 U.S. Code § 1052 - trademarks registrable on principal register; concurrent registration.

(1947, July 5). Retrieved February 28, 2017, from Cornell Law,

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/1052

“MEDIA FACT SHEET.” U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. 18 June 2014. Web. 23 Feb.

2017.

Rantanen, Jason “Guest post by prof. McKenna: The implications of Blackhorse v. Pro-football,

Inc.” 19 June 2014, Web.

Rottman, G., Counsel, L., & Office, A. W. L. (2016, December 8). Redskins wrong, but legal.

Retrieved February 28, 2017, from https://www.aclu.org/blog/redskins-wrong-legal

Shapira, Ian. “The Opponents of the Team’s Name Argue That Dan Snyder Lacks the Legal

Right to Sue Them.” Washington Post. washingtonpost, 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 23 Feb.

2017.

Washington Redskins name controversy (2017). . In Wikipedia. Retrieved from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Redskins_name_controversy