Justices to Answer Whether ‘Scandalous’ Trademarks Can Be Registered

Director Monica Riva Talley was quoted in Westlaw Journal’s article, “Justices to Answer Whether ‘Scandalous’ Trademarks Can Be Registered.” On January 4, 2019, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear Iancu v. Brunetti (Case No. 18-302). The petition for certiorari was filed in November by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on appeal from a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decision that held the Lanham Act’s prohibition on “immoral” or “scandalous” marks violates the First Amendment’s free speech clause. The case is the second in two years that the Court has taken on the subject. Talley predicts that the Supreme Court will uphold the prohibition as the court has consistently taken the position that obscenity is not constitutionally protected free speech.

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