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23 September 2016Trademarks

SCOTUS to decide on Redskins and Slants cases

The US Supreme Court is likely to reveal on Monday whether it has decided to hear two cases concerning disparaging trademarks.

The cases, Blackhorse v Pro Football and In re Tam, should provide guidance on whether disparaging terms can be registered as US trademarks or whether refusing registration is a violation of First Amendment rights.

Petitions for certiorari were filed by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Under current laws, trademarks that are likely to disparage people, institutions or beliefs are barred from registration under section 2(a) of the Lanham Act.

The Washington Redskins, a National Football League club, is challenging the provision in the Blackhorse lawsuit.

Blackhorse concerns the club’s trademarks for the term ‘Redskins’, which is a slang word for Native American people.

Six trademarks owned by the Redskins were cancelled in 2014 by the USPTO after they were challenged by a group of Native Americans led by Amanda Blackhorse.

The US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia upheld the cancellations.

US rock band The Slants is also challenging the provision, in the In re Tam suit.

The Slants had applied to trademark its name, which is a slang word for Asian people, and in December last year an en banc US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that a decision by the USPTO to deny the trademark violated The Slants’ First Amendment rights.

The Supreme Court’s new term begins on October 3, and on Monday, September 26, it is likely to decide whether to hear the cases—separately, together, or not at all.

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More on this story

Trademarks
12 May 2016   The US Supreme Court may rule that disparaging trademarks cannot be registered, but a scenario could arise whereby one set of disparaging marks are cancelled but another accepted, a WIPR-organised webinar has revealed.
Trademarks
29 September 2016   The US Supreme Court has revealed that it will take up the In re Tam trademark dispute, a case centring on US rock band The Slants.