24 June 2019

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US Supreme Court throws out law which banned scandalous and immoral" trademarks

US Supreme Court throws out law which banned scandalous and immoral" trademarks
Monday, 24 June, 2019

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court on Monday sided with a Los Angeles designer who sought to trademark "FUCT" for his clothing line but was blocked by a federal law prohibiting registration of "immoral or scandalous" ideas.

"FUCT" -- which founder Erik Brunetti says is pronounced by saying each letter -- was denied a trademark because the government deemed it "scandalous" and "immoral."

The U.S. Supreme Court said owners of vulgar and lewd product names can get federal trademark protection, ruling that a century-old restriction on those rights violates the constitutional free-speech guarantee.

Siding with the creator of a clothing line known as "FUCT," the justices threw out a federal law that banned the inclusion of "scandalous" and "immoral" trademarks on a government registry.

The court said the law violates the First Amendment.

"There are a great many immoral and scandalous ideas in the world (even more than there are swearwords)," wrote Justice Elena Kagan in the majority opinion. "The Lanham Act covers them all. It therefore violates the First Amendment."

In 2017, the Supreme Court struck down a similar part of the federal trademark law one which had banned trademark registration for "disparaging" language.
The justices said, in a unanimous opinion, that "giving offense is a viewpoint" protected by the First Amendment.

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Tags – US First Amendment Trade Mark Vulgar Scandalous Law

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