Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images.

This is big: The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has canceled the Washington football team’s trademark registration, saying the name is “disparaging to Native Americans.”

In the landmark case, Blackhorse v. Pro -Football, Inc., the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board filed in favor of the petitioners, finding that the name of Washington’s professional football team is a racial slur and disparages Native Americans. Law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath originally filed the suit in 2006 on behalf of petitioners Amanda Blackhorse, Phillip Glover, Marcus Briggs-Cloud, Jillian Pappan and Courtney Tsotigh, who were seeking “the cancellation of six different trademarks associated with the Washington NFL team.”

In a statement, Drinker Biddle & Reath Chairman Alfred W. Putnam, Jr. said “we are extraordinarily gratified to have prevailed in this case. The dedication and professionalism of our attorneys and the determination of our clients have resulted in a milestone victory that will serve as an historic precedent.”

This is the second time the Trademark and Appeal Board canceled the team’s trademark. The board previously canceled the team’s trademark protections as part of a case filed in 1992, ThinkProgress reports, but it was later overturned by a federal court.

Update, 11: 20 a.m.: Lawmakers are praising the U.S. Patent Office’s decision, The Post reports. “The writing is on the wall. It’s on the wall in giant, blinking neon lights,” Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said. “Daniel Snyder may be the last person in the world to realize this, but it’s just a matter of time before he’s forced to do the right thing and change the name.”

Additionally, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said that “this is not the end of this case, but this is a landmark decision by the patent office that says that the NFL team here in Washington, D.C. does not have a patentable name and that this an offensive term not patentable by the Patent Office.”

Update, 12:20 p.m.: Bob Raskopf, trademark attorney for the team released a statement and, predictably, the team will appeal the decision. Here’s the full statement:

Washington Footballteam Statement

Update, 1 p.m.: And here’s a statement from Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton:

“The handwriting was almost indelibly on the wall that this historic decision was close to inevitable if the USPTO followed its own precedents,” said Norton. “The USPTO’s first decision finding the name ‘disparaging’ was not overturned on the merits but on a technicality, and on four separate occasions since then, the USPTO has turned down attempts to register the same name. As if that were not enough, a grassroots movement led by Native people themselves and organizations that represent them has spread with allies of every background and Members of the House and Senate. Team owner Daniel Snyder instead tried to turn the name on its head, but there was no way to put a positive cover on a name with racist origins. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s failure to exercise the needed leadership guaranteed that it would take the law to force a change. We in the District of Columbia are particularly relieved about the ruling, which upholds values of the people of the District of Columbia. Goodell still has an opportunity to exercise some leadership. He, the other NFL team owners and FedEx should urge Snyder not to appeal this ruling. It is time for the team and the NFL to put this issue to rest.”