FILE - In this Aug. 3, 2010, file photo, Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder attends a workout at the NFL football team's training camp in Ashburn, Va. The campaign to ditch "Redskins" by those who consider it a racial slur has reached unprecedented momentum over the last 18 months. Snyder has always vowed never to change the name. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) (The Associated Press)
ASHBURN, Va. – The Washington Redskins have appealed a decision that stripped the team of trademark protection, the latest legal maneuver in the franchise's attempt to defend its name against those who consider it a racial slur.
The team announced Thursday that it had filed an appeal in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled in June that the Redskins' name is "disparaging of Native Americans" and that the team should lose its trademark protection.
The team immediately announced it would appeal the ruling and had two months to do so.
The trademark protection remains in place while the matter makes its way through the courts. A similar ruling in 1999 was overturned on a technicality in 2003.
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