Articles

The Slants win First Amendment challenge

February 02, 2016 | By JOSHUA THOMPSON

The Slants, a rock band out of Portland, was told it could not trademark its band name because it was “disparaging.” The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board held that the name “The Slants” was derogatory towards Asians, and would not give trademark protection to a racist band name. The leader of the band sued, arguing in par ...

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The Slants in the Supreme Court

June 30, 2016 | By CALEB TROTTER

As we noted earlier this year, The Slants–an Oregon rock band comprised of frontman, Simon Tam, and other Asian-American band members–was denied a trademark on the band name because the United States Patent and Trademark Office decided the name was disparaging toward people of Asian descent. In response, Mr. Tam sued and won before an ...

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Supreme Court to hear The Slants' case

September 29, 2016 | By CALEB TROTTER

This morning, the United States Supreme Court issued the first orders from its September 26th long conference. Among the cases the Court agreed to hear is Michelle K. Lee v. Simon S. Tam. We have previously discussed Mr. Tam’s case here and here. Briefly, Mr. Tam is the frontman of the rock band, The Slants. … ...

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Can the government decline to register disparaging trademarks?

December 13, 2016 | By CALEB TROTTER

Simon Tam is the frontman of the popular Portland, Oregon, band called The Slants. A few years ago Mr. Tam sought to register The Slants as a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. While the term has traditionally been used as a derogatory slur for persons of Asian descent, Mr. Tam (an … ...

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Weekly litigation report — December 17, 2016

December 17, 2016 | By JAMES BURLING

PLF opposes slanted view of the First Amendment PLF opposes First Amendment retaliation EPA licensing scheme gone wrong Beach case review dismissed WOTUS update PLF opposes slanted view of the First Amendment PLF filed this amicus brief with the Supreme Court in The Slants case, aka Lee v. Tam. By appropriating a demeaning epithet for the … ...

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Supreme Court victory for The Slants

June 20, 2017 | By CALEB TROTTER

We’ve been writing about Simon Tam‘s efforts to trademark his Portland, Oregon-based rock band, The Slants, for over a year now. As you’ll recall, Mr. Tam, an Asian-American, formed his band in 2006 and recruited other Asian-Americans to join in order to provide an interesting and entertaining platform to discuss discriminatio ...