WASHINGTON (AP) -- Major American Indian groups went to court Friday trying to revoke the Washington Redskins' trademark name, calling it a disparaging reference to millions of people.
Four national organizations joined a District of Columbia resident who sued in 1992 to pressure the team to drop the Redskins moniker because they consider it offensive. But a team lawyer argued that the appeal should be dismissed because the legal complaints weren't filed until decades after the name was first adopted in 1933. ``This football team has been on actual notice from 1972 that Native Americans found this name offensive,'' attorney Thomas Morrison, representing the American Indian groups, told the U.S. Court of Appeals. ``I don't think we'd be hearing this debate if it were a different ethnic group.''
Four national organizations joined a District of Columbia resident who sued in 1992 to pressure the team to drop the Redskins moniker because they consider it offensive. But a team lawyer argued that the appeal should be dismissed because the legal complaints weren't filed until decades after the name was first adopted in 1933. ``This football team has been on actual notice from 1972 that Native Americans found this name offensive,'' attorney Thomas Morrison, representing the American Indian groups, told the U.S. Court of Appeals. ``I don't think we'd be hearing this debate if it were a different ethnic group.''
