The Washington Redskins want the U.S. Supreme Court to take up their trademark battle with the government.
The case is supposed to be heard by a Richmond appeals court. But according to court documents reviewed by NBC News, lawyers for the team want the Supreme Court to intervene.
Attorneys said the high court may take up a similar case from a rock band fighting a battle over their name. They want the two cases heard together.
The federal circuit case involves an Oregon dance band called The Slants, a name that founder Simon Shao Tam said he picked to "reclaim" the word from its history of derision of Asians.
The Patent and Trademark Office rejected his application to trademark the name because it's "immoral, deceptive or scandalous," only to see the appeals court side with Tam, finding that that part of the 1946 Lanham Act, which regulates trademarks, violates the First Amendment's protections of free speech.
The Redskins' legal battle started last year when the U.S. Patent and Trademark office rejected the Redskins trademark, saying it was offensive. A federal court in Alexandria ruled in the government's favor.
