Native Americans protest before the Minnesota Vikings and Washington game in Minneapolis. (Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images)

A federal judged ruled today that the Washington football team can, in fact, sue the group of Native Americans who won their case to get the U.S. Patent Office to overturn the team’s trademark.

After a group of Native Americans—Amanda Blackhorse, Phillip Glover, Marcus Briggs-Cloud, Jillian Pappan and Courtney Tsotigh—won the case that got the Washington football team’s trademark for their name and logo canceled, the team filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court against the group to overturn the ruling.

But the defendants filed a motion asking the Court to dismiss the team’s lawsuit, arguing that their dispute “is with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office], not with the Blackhorse Defendants,” and that they’re “not ‘parties in interest’ who may be sued.”

The Post reports that Judge Gerald B. Lee of the U.S. District Court in Alexandria rejected the defendant’s motion today, writing that they are the right people the team can sue in this matter. From the Post:

“Merely pointing out that [the Native Americans] have not used the registered marks and have no legal or economic interest in the marks does not absolve them of any interest in the case,” he wrote.

Lee said the Native Americans’ “personal stake” in the case makes them a proper target for a lawsuit.

He said that because the activists had proper standing to petition the trademark appeal board, they also are appropriate defendants in a lawsuit that seeks to review the board’s rulings.

The Native Americans “were the sole representatives on behalf of the petition for cancellation, were listed as the adverse parties, and were heavily involved in the proceedings” before the trademark appeals board, Lee said, noting that they had produced 7,000 pages of evidence in the case and sat for multiple depositions. “Based on these facts, [the Native Americans] are clearly adverse parties.”

So yes, Dan Snyder and the Washington football team can proceed with their lawsuit against a group of Native Americans still. Happy Thanksgiving.