New Publication by Professor Phillips - Beyond Trademark: The Washington Redskins Case and the Search for Dignity
The Chicago-Kent Law Review has published a new paper by PIJIP Professor Victoria Phillips. Beyond Trademark: The Washington Redskins Case and the Search for Dignity looks beyond the challenge under federal trademark laws and explores whether the appropriation and commodification of the racial slur “redskins” and associated cultural imagery by the continued federal registration of the Washington team’s trademarks should be deemed a dignity taking."
The concept of a dignity taking was originally developed to describe the taking of land from indigenous South Africans. Phillips applies the concept to intangible property rights, and "argues that the misappropriation of cultural identity and imagery for use as a federal trademark can also constitute a dignity taking in certain cases."