September 29, 2016 | No Comments
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to a federal law that denies trademark recognition to names determined to be offensive, teeing up an issue that could determine the fate of the name of the Washington Redskins football team.
In orders issued Thursday morning, the justices agreed to consider the case of “The Slants,” an Asian-run “dance-rock” band that was refused trademark recognition because officials considered the name disparaging to Asians.
Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled, 9-3, that the First Amendment was violated by the legal provision denying trademarks that “disparage…persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols.”
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has also stripped the Washington Redskins of their federal trademark recognition on the same grounds. The Redskins filed an amicus brief urging the justices to take up the Slants’ case, formally called Lee v. Tam.
The team also has their own petition pending at the Supreme Court, which was not acted on by the justices Thursday. The Redskins’ petition was unusually timed, brought before any appeals court ruling on the stripping of their trademarks.
The high court could deny the Redskins petition as untimely or simply hold it until the court rules on the Slants’ case.
The trademark case was one of nine the shorthanded Supreme Court announced Thursday will be added to the docket for the coming term, which opens Monday. The justices did not announce any denials of review Thursday. A long list of those is expected Monday shortly before the court is gaveled in.