Supreme Court rules the government can't refuse to register trademarks considered offensive
Last edited Mon Jun 19, 2017, 12:00 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: Politico
By JOSH GERSTEIN 06/19/2017 10:22 AM EDT
The Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional the federal government’s practice of refusing to register trademarks that officials deem to be offensive.
The justices ruled in favor of Simon Tam, the front man for an all-Asian-American rock band known as “The Slants.” The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had refused to register the name, citing a law that denied trademarks that disparage individuals, institutions, beliefs or national symbols.
The result in the closely-watched case could doom legal challenges to other trademarks many consider offensive, such as that for the Washington Redskins football team.
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Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/19/supreme-court-rules-slants-case-239711
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The Slants Win Supreme Court Battle Over Band's Name In Trademark Dispute
June 19, 201710:29 AM ET
Members of the Asian-American rock band The Slants have the right to call themselves by a disparaging name, the Supreme Court says, in a ruling that could have broad impact on how the First Amendment is applied in other trademark cases.
The Slants' frontman, Simon Tam, filed a lawsuit after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office kept the band from registering its name and rejected its appeal, citing the Lanham Act, which prohibits any trademark that could "disparage ... or bring ... into contempt or disrepute" any "persons, living or dead," as the court states.
After a federal court agreed with Tam and his band, the Patent and Trade Office sued to avoid being compelled to register its name as a trademark. On Monday, the Supreme Court sided with The Slants.
"The disparagement clause violates the First Amendment's Free Speech Clause," Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his opinion for the court. Contrary to the Government's contention, trademarks are private, not government speech."
The band has said it wanted to reclaim what is often seen as a slur.
more
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/19/533514196/the-slants-win-supreme-court-battle-over-bands-name-in-trademark-dispute
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