Supreme Court Punts on Redskins Trademark Case

Seems that the Supreme Court has declined to review the Harjo case, which seeks to invalidate the Washington Redskins’ trademark on the grounds that it violates the Lanham Act’s prohibition on disparaging marks.  The refusal to hear the case was not based on the case’s merits, but instead on a technicality involving the amount of time lapsed between Pro Football’s registration of the mark in 1967 and the plaintiff’s filing of the suit in 1992, a legal doctrine referred to as “laches.”

The door is not closed on this issue:  another, younger, plaintiff, not barred by laches, has already filed a nearly identical claim.  That claim continues to work its way through the court system.

I find Pro Football’s defense lacking.

In urging the justices to reject the appeal, [] [t]he lawyers also said the Redskins have invested millions of dollars in promoting and advertising the trademark.

What in the world does the amount of money spent promoting a mark have to do with determining whether that mark is disparaging?