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The Sterling situation is different - the Clippers are a private organization that's part of another private organization, the NBA. So the NBA can do whatever the NBA wants to do w/r/t their code of conduct and standards for team owners.
The U.S. patent office is a government entity, yeah, but they're not *actually* forcing the NFL to act in this case, nor are they forcing the team to change their name. They're just declining to protect them from trademark infringement.
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