Supreme Court Upholds Trademarks’ Right To Offend

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office cannot deny trademarks they deem “disparaging,” the Supreme Court ruled this week. The Court sided with rock band The Slants, made up of Asian American members, who sued the USPTO for the right to trademark their name. Slants frontman Simon Tam sued under the Lanham Act, which prohibits any trademark that could “disparage … or bring … into contempt or disrepute persons, living or dead.” “The disparagement clause violates the First Amendment’s Free Speech clause,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the Court. “Contrary to the Government’s position, trademarks are private, not government speech.” Washington D.C.’s NFL Football Team, the Redskins, also seeks to benefit from the Court’s ruling. The team saw its trademark registration cancelled in 2014 at the behest of groups of Native Americans who consider the term a slur. “The government’s misguided effort to protect minorities from disparagement instead hurt members of that very community by hindering their right to compete in the marketplace of ideas,” attorney Lee Rowland with the American Civil Liberties Union said of the ruling. “Fortunately, today’s opinion prevents the kind of absurd outcome that results when the government plays speech police.”