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Trademark Application Trademarks First Amendment

Akerman LLP

Content-Based but Viewpoint-Neutral: Federal Trademark Law “Names Clause” Withstands Constitutional Challenge

Akerman LLP on

There has long been a tension between the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and federal trademark law. In two relatively recent Supreme Court trademark cases, the First Amendment won, enabling...more

Irwin IP LLP

Supreme Court Rules: Elster Can Say "Trump Too Small" But Can't Trademark It!

Irwin IP LLP on

Vidal v. Elster, 602 U.S. (2024) - In a landmark decision affirming longstanding principles of trademark law, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Lanham Act’s names clause does not violate the First Amendment,...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Trademarking History: Justices Uphold Names Clause, Clash Over Reasoning

On June 13, 2024, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Vidal v. Elster, a case that pitted trademark law against the First Amendment’s free speech protections. While the Court unanimously upheld the Patent and...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Supreme Court Upholds Constitutionality of Lanham Act’s Names Clause

McDermott Will & Emery on

In Vidal v. Elster, a unanimous Supreme Court of the United States reversed the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s decision, holding that the Lanham Act’s names clause does not violate the First Amendment or...more

Genova Burns LLC

Unanimous But Fractured: Supreme Court Upholds Rejection of “Trump Too Small” Trademark, With Little Guidance for the Future

Genova Burns LLC on

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Vidal v. Ester, 602 U.S. ___ (2024) that the federal prohibition on registering trademarks that identify a living individual without their consent does not violate the First...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

SCOTUS Rules on "Trump Too Small"—Third Recent Ruling on First Amendment Implications for Lanham Act 

The June 13, 2024, U.S. Supreme Court decision in Vidal v. Elster made waves in the trademark community. All of the Court’s decisions are significant, and this matter was of particular interest because the decision marked the...more

Kilpatrick

Vidal v. Elster: The Supreme Court Affirms the Constitutionality of Section 2(c) of the Lanham Act

Kilpatrick on

In Vidal v. Elster, the Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of Section 2(c) of the Lanham Act, which prohibits the registration as a trademark or service mark of any “name, portrait, or signature identifying a...more

Polsinelli

Supreme Court Upholds Refusal to Register Trademark Containing the Name of Living Individual – Donald Trump

Polsinelli on

In a recent unanimous decision in the case Vidal v. Elster (602 U.S. ___ (2024)), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the refusal to register a federal trademark for the phrase “Trump Too Small” based on the fact that the Lanham...more

Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.

Supreme Court Upholds Constitutionality of the Trademark Act’s “Names Clause” in Affirming Refusal to Register TRUMP TOO SMALL

Yesterday, in Vidal v. Elster, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of Section 2(c) of the Trademark Act (15 U.S.C. § 1052(c)), which prohibits registration of a mark that “[c]onsists of or...more

McDermott Will & Emery

[Webinar] 2024 IP Outlook: Trends Affecting Patent, Trademark, Copyright and Trade Secret Holders - December 12th, 1:00 pm - 2:00...

McDermott Will & Emery on

As 2023 draws to a close, new developments continue to emerge across the patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret spaces. Join members of McDermott’s Intellectual Property Group for a year-end review that will explore...more

Weintraub Tobin

(Podcast) The Briefing: SCOTUS to Determine if USPTO Refusal to Register TRUMP TOO SMALL is Unconstitutional

Weintraub Tobin on

The Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in the case of Vidal v. Elster to determine whether the USPTO’s refusal to register the trademark “Trump Too Small” violates the applicant’s First Amendment rights. Scott Hervey...more

Weintraub Tobin

The Briefing: SCOTUS to Determine if USPTO Refusal to Register TRUMP TOO SMALL is Unconstitutional

Weintraub Tobin on

The Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in the case of Vidal v. Elster to determine whether the USPTO’s refusal to register the trademark “Trump Too Small” violates the applicant’s First Amendment rights. Scott Hervey...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Lanham Act May “Trump” First Amendment (For Once)

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

In what appears to be a shift from prior decisions striking down portions of the federal Lanham Act on First Amendment grounds, the U.S. Supreme Court seems likely to rule against a trademark applicant seeking to register a...more

Woods Rogers

Importance of Jack Daniel’s When Picking a Trademark

Woods Rogers on

Branding, including acquiring and protecting your trademarks, is essential to growing your business and protecting against other companies getting a free-ride on your reputation and goodwill. In 2007, Louis Vuitton sought to...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

The Supreme Court Will Decide the “Trump Too Small” Trademark Case

Fox Rothschild LLP on

If you missed reading about this case, buckle up! It has some fascinating twists and turns, along with the opportunity to brush up on the Lanham Act and see how the First Amendment’s freedom of speech clause is now at odds...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Supreme Court Will Review TRUMP TOO SMALL Trademark Registration Dispute

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

The Supreme Court granted certiorari and will review the Federal Circuit’s opinion that Section 2(c) of the Lanham Act is unconstitutional as applied to a trademark for the term TRUMP TOO SMALL. The TRUMP TOO SMALL trademark...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Oh, Fudge. TTAB Finds Curse Word Fails to Function as Trademark

The US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) denied registration of several US trademark applications for the mark FUCK, even though the applicant had overcome a prohibition on the registration of “immoral or scandalous” trademarks...more

Knobbe Martens

First Amendment Trumps Statutory Ban on Trademark Registration

Knobbe Martens on

IN RE STEVE ELSTER - Before Dyk, Taranto, and Chen.  Appeal from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Summary: The Patent and Trademark Office violated the First Amendment by refusing to register the trademark TRUMP...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

PSALM WEST™: A Brand Is Born

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

On May 9, 2019, Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West’s fourth child, Psalm West, was born. On May 18, 2019, Kim Kardashian West’s company, fittingly named Kimsaprincess Inc., filed sixteen trademark applications for PSALM...more

White and Williams LLP

Foreign Trademark Applicants and Registrants Must Now Be Represented By US Counsel

White and Williams LLP on

Effective August 3, 2019, all foreign-domiciled trademark applicants, registrants and parties to proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board must be represented by an attorney who is licensed to practice law in...more

Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.

Food & Beverage Litigation Update | April 2018 #2

China to Tariff U.S. Food Commodities - China has reportedly imposed tariffs on imports of U.S.-made agricultural products, including pork, soybeans, wheat, beef, orange juice, whiskey and corn, following the United...more

Foster Garvey PC

The Washington Redskins Win Their Trademark Battle in Overtime

Foster Garvey PC on

Simon Tam of the Asian rock band, The Slants, probably was not envisioning an 8-year-long legal battle when he chose the group’s name. Slant is known as a racial slur for Asians. Tam hoped to strip the term of its derogatory...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

USPTO To Suspend New Trademark Applications Containing Scandalous Or Disparaging Material

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on

On March 10, 2016, The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) issued new examination guidance for trademark applications containing potentially immoral or scandalous matter, which is expressly prohibited by...more

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