Supreme Court Takes Up ‘Slants' Trademark Case
Troutman Sanders partner Charanjit Brahma was quoted in Law.com, Broward Daily Business Review and The Legal Intelligencer based on his representation of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association before the Federal Circuit after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected Simon Tam’s application to register the name of his band “The Slants” under Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act because the mark is “disparaging” to Asians and Asian Americans. NAPABA supported the USPTO in denying registration. The Supreme Court recently granted certiorari to hear an appeal from the Federal Circuit’s en banc decision finding that provision of the Lanham Act an unconstitutional prohibition on free speech rights under the First Amendment.