Victory for The Slants! The Portland-based rock band, who have been embroiled in long-running legal struggle for the right to trademark their name, has scored a big victory in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Government Can't Deny Trademarks Over Offensive Names, Appeals Court Rules
The Slants' founder and frontman Simon Tam has been locked in a widely-publicized six-year battle with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, which refused to trademark his band's name on the grounds that "slants" can be interpreted as a racial slur. At issue in the case was Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act, which allows the USPTO to deny or cancel a trademark if it is "disparaging" of persons, institutions or national symbols.
On Tuesday, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that the band's name is private speech, and the USPTO's refusal to grant the "Slants" mark is a violation of Tam's First Amendment rights.
"It is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment that the government may not penalize private speech merely because it disapproves of the message it conveys," writes Federal Circuit Judge Kimberly Ann Moore. "That principle governs even when the government's message-discriminatory penalty is less than a prohibition."
