The Supreme Court on Wednesday began hearing oral arguments for Lee v. Tam, an intellectual property case challenging a 71-year-old federal ban on "disparaging" trademarks. Immediately at issue is a Portland dance-rock band called The Slants, but how the case is decided is expected to have broader implications — including for the Washington Redskins.
The Slants' band members are Asian-American, and they wanted to trademark the name as a way to reclaim the slur. "I thought that was interesting," band member Simon Tam told The New York Times, because "we can talk about our slant on life on what it's like to be people of color." Tam grew up listening to bands that similarly took stigmatizing labels "and flip these assumptions on their heads." So when his trademark application got rejected, he assumed it was a paperwork error — until he noticed the rejection reason given was that the name is "disparaging to persons of Asian ethnicity." "Well, do they know we're of Asian descent?" Tam wondered.
Tam's case has now made it to the Supreme Court, where initial arguments see the justices skeptical of the government's claim to have a legitimate interest in preventing consumer "distraction" by disparaging trademarks, as well as the argument that trademarks, unlike copyrights, "generally have not historically served as vehicles for expression" of viewpoints which are protected as free speech.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
As for the Redskins, their trademark was canceled in 2014 on grounds that it too is disparaging, in that case of Native Americans. The team has filed suit to regain the trademark, but if The Slants win their case, depending on the details of the decision, the Redskins might get their trademark back, too.
-
August 24 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday's political cartoons include Putin at Donald Trump's circus, gallons of whitewash, and a foldable cartoon
-
5 Post Office-approved cartoons about mail-in votingCartoons Artists take on reverse logic, Putin's election advice, and more
-
The battle of the weight-loss drugsTalking Point Can Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly regain their former stock market glory? A lot is riding on next year's pills
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
