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About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 2016)
U.S.A. Page 6 n THE ASIAN REPORTER October 3, 2016 Volume 26 Number 19 October 3, 2016 ISSN: 1094-9453 The Asian Reporter is published on the first and third Monday each month. Please send all correspondence to: The Asian Reporter 922 N Killingsworth Street, Suite 2D, Portland, OR 97217 Phone: (503) 283-4440, Fax: (503) 283-4445 News Department e-mail: news@asianreporter.com Advertising Department e-mail: ads@asianreporter.com General e-mail: info@asianreporter.com Website: www.asianreporter.com Please send reader feedback, Asian-related press releases, and community interest ideas/stories to the addresses listed above. Please include a contact phone number. Advertising information available upon request. Publisher Jaime Lim Contributing Editors Ronault L.S. Catalani (Polo), Jeff Wenger Correspondents Ian Blazina, Josephine Bridges, Pamela Ellgen, Maileen Hamto, Edward J. Han, A.P. Kryza, Marie Lo, Simeon Mamaril, Julie Stegeman, Toni Tabora-Roberts, Allison Voigts Illustrator Jonathan Hill News Service Associated Press/Newsfinder Copyright 2016. Opinions expressed in this newspaper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of this publication. Member Associated Press/Newsfinder Asian American Journalists Association Better Business Bureau Pacific Northwest Minority Publishers (PNMP) Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Oregon By Sam Hananel Correspondence: The Associated Press The Asian Reporter welcomes reader response and participation. Please send all correspondence to: Mail: 922 N Killingsworth Street, Suite 2D, Portland, OR 97217-2220 Phone: (503) 283-4440 ** Fax: (503) 283-4445 News Department e-mail: news@asianreporter.com General e-mail: info@asianreporter.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES (U.S. rates only) Individual subscription (sent bulk rate): q Half year: $14 q Full year: $24 q Two years: $40 Individual subscription (sent first class mail): q Half year: $24 q Full year: $40 q Two years: $72 Office subscription (5 copies to one address): q Half year: $40 q Full year: $75 q Two years: $145 Institutional subscription (25 copies to one address): q Half year: $100 q Full year: $180 q Two years: $280 NEW SUBSCRIBER / ADDRESS CORRECTION INFORMATION FORM: Subscriber’s name: Company name: Address: City, State, ZIP: Phone: Fax: E-mail: Mail with payment or Fax with credit card information to: The Asian Reporter, Attn: Subscription Dept., 922 N Killingsworth Street, Suite 2D, Portland, OR 97217-2220 Phone: (503) 283-4440 * Fax: (503) 283-4445 q q q For VISA, Mastercard, or American Express payment only: Name (as it appears on the card): Type of card (circle): VISA Mastercard Card number: American Express Security code: Expiration date: Redskins, rock band battle government in trademark fight Address of card: The last four issues of The Asian Reporter are available for pick up free at our office 24 hours a day at 922 N Killingsworth Street, Suite 2D, Portland, Oregon. Back issues of The Asian Reporter may be ordered by mail at the following rates: First copy: $1.50 Additional copies ordered at the same time: $1.00 each Send orders to: Asian Reporter Back Issues, 922 N. Killingsworth St., Portland, OR 97217-2220 The Asian Reporter welcomes reader response and participation. If you have a comment on a story we have printed, or have an Asian-related personal or community focus idea, please contact us. Please include a contact name, address, and phone number on all correspondence. Thank you. ASHINGTON — Simon Tam has openly criticized the Washington Redskins team name as a racist slur that demeans Native Americans. But Tam and his Asian-American rock band, The Slants, have become unusual legal allies with the National Football League (NFL) franchise as they both battle the U.S. government over trademark protection for names that some consider offensive. The Supreme Court has decided to hear the dispute involving the Portland, Oregon-area band in its new term, choosing it over the dispute with the Redskins because The Slants are further along in the legal process. At issue is a First Amendment challenge to a law barring the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from registering trademarks that disparage minority groups. The office denied a trademark to the Slants in 2011 after finding the name disparaged people of Asian descent. The Slants say their goal was not to offend anyone, but to transform a derisive term about the shape of Asian eyes into a statement of ethnic and cultural pride. The band won a major victory last year when a divided federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled the law prohibiting offensive trademarks violates free-speech rights. The Obama administration has asked the Supreme Court to overturn that ruling. The Redskins, too, say their team name is meant to honor American Indians. But the team has faced years of legal challenges, and a testy public- relations fight, from members of the very group they claim to salute. The Redskins case involves the trademark office’s move last year to cancel the team trademark that was first registered in 1967. A federal judge has agreed with that decision. A federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, has not yet considered the team’s appeal. Tam, in a legal brief, had wanted the cases to be considered together. Otherwise, he said, a future ruling against the Redskins could end up affecting the band’s status. The potential legal alliance might have surprised people who had been on the website of The Slants. One section has a lengthy list of reasons why the cases are different. No. 1 is “unlike REDSKINS, THE SLANTS is not an inherent racial slur.” The website says the word Redskin “has a long history of oppression” and “the football team treats the people as mascots.” By contrast, The Slants “breaks stereotypes about Asian Americans, especially in the entertainment industry.” W Tam does not mention those distinctions in his brief to the court, and he declined to be interviewed. In the Slants case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in December that the First Amendment protects “even hurtful speech that harms members of oft-stigmatized communities.” “The First Amendment forbids government regulators to deny registration because they find the speech likely to offend others,” judge Kimberly Moore said for the majority. The administration argues that the law does not restrict speech because the band is still free to use the name even without trademark protection. The law “simply reflects congress’ judgement that the federal government should not affirmatively promote the use of racial slurs and other disparaging terms by granting the benefits of registration,” the government said. Jeremy Sheff, a professor at St. John’s University School of Law who specializes in intellectual property, said the Supreme Court could be interested in the cases because it has been “pretty aggressive” in protecting First Amendment speech — even remarks considered highly offensive. “The knock on the law is that nobody knows what disparagement means,” he said. “That is a concern.” The Redskins had claimed their case was “a better vehicle” than Tam’s for the Supreme Court to consider the constitutionality of the trademark law. The team says the effect of cancelling a trademark is more harmful because it has been relying on the law’s financial protections for nearly 50 years. Without trademark protection, the team could lose millions if it can’t block the sale of counterfeit merchandise. The team also points out that the government over the years has registered dozens of companies with names that could be considered offensive. Among those: Baked By A Negro bakery products, Midget Man condoms, Dago Swagg clothing, and the rock band White Trash Cowboys. The American Civil Liberties Union has sided with the Redskins’ free-speech claims, even as the group has publicly called on the team to change the name because it is offensive. “The government doesn’t get to withhold a benefit because it disagrees with the content of someone’s speech,” said ACLU national legal director Steve Shapiro. The Redskins have come under increasing pres- sure in recent years to change the team name. Even President Barack Obama has said he would think about changing it if he owned the team. Owner Dan Snyder has said he’d never change the name and that it “represents honor, respect, and pride.” Read The Asian Reporter online at <www.asianreporter.com>!
