National Football League

Judge allows Redskins to file lawsuit to reclaim trademark

Published Nov. 25, 2014 6:43 p.m. ET

foxsports

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A judge is allowing the Washington Redskins to move ahead with a lawsuit seeking to overturn a cancellation of the team's trademark.

The team sued in August after a federal panel, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, ruled that the Redskins trademark should be cancelled because it may be disparaging to Native Americans.

The legal challenge over the team name has been winding through the legal system since 1992.

The Redskins' lawsuit names the five Native Americans who filed the challenge with the trademark board as defendants. Those defendants wanted the case tossed out of federal court in Alexandria, arguing that the Redskins should sue the trademark board, not them.

But Judge Gerald Bruce Lee ruled Tuesday that federal law allows the Redskins to sue the Native Americans.