On Tuesday, June 30, the owner of the Washington Redskins challenged the Native American defendants’ request to introduce a parallel case’s amicus brief that addresses the rights to federal action of trademark holders under the Lanham Act and related First Amendment issues. According to the team’s objection, the brief was untimely, had not been allowed by the court, and offered further argument that did not constitute an authority.
At a hearing on June 23, the defendants argued that the Supreme Court’s decision in Walker v. Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Inc., which allowed Texas to prohibit license plates bearing the Confederate flag, fully supported the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s cancellation of the team’s trademarks. During the hearing, counsel for the defendants referred to the International Trademark Association’s amicus brief, which was filed in a Federal Circuit case involving a band called the Slants.
In response, the team argued Tuesday that because the defendants have not received leave from the court to file a supplemental brief, because INTA itself could have filed the brief in this case if it wished to, and because the brief was not an authority and did not provide a definitive statement on the First Amendment issues, the attempt to establish the INTA amicus brief should be stricken.