“Redskins” not racist, what about “wogs”?

A US Federal Court has held that the Washington Redskins name is not racist.

The name has been a source of considerable criticism over the years, inspiring hate websites.

What about “wog”? Would IP Australia, the Australian Trade Marks office, refuse to register “wog” here?

Nope. There are several “wog” marks. Wogarama, for example, is owned by Third Costa Pty Ltd (presumably a company associated with Nick Giannopoulos) for entertainment services.

But not all have been registered. In 2006, a Tim Pirzas tried to register WOG FOOD for books but failed. Probably not because of racist reasons – because it’s descriptive of meditarranean food. Descriptive terms cannot generally be registered as trade marks.