Tag Archives: Section 2(a)

Well, that happened! According to the Supreme Court’s opinion in Matal v. Tam, Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act, which purports to prohibit the registration of marks that “disparage . . . persons,” is unconstitutional.  When we first started blogging on this topic, here, we noted that certain stars were aligning for a constitutional showdown. … More

Two years ago, I started worrying about what would happen if someone at a Super Bowl party asked me to explain an NFL-related lawsuit, particularly one of those intellectual property lawsuits that sports fans assume IP lawyers know about. This anxiety led me to put together the Sue-per Bowl Shuffle I and Sue-per Bowl Shuffle II: guides to trademark, copyright, patent and other intellectual property disputes concerning the NFL during 2014 and 2015 respectively.… More

We have been following the course of In re Tam as it has progressed through the PTO and the courts. See our prior posts here, here, here, here and here. To recap, at issue is whether Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act, which prohibits the registration of marks that may disparage persons,… More

March 2016

Welcome to Trademark Red Tape, our periodic round-up of trademark news and happenings at the United States Patent & Trademark Office. Here are the highlights:

• A Time-Out for Offensive Trademarks. According to IP Watchdog, Mary Denison, the Commissioner for Trademarks, has issued an “informal” directive to trademark examiners that they should suspend trademark applications that would potentially violate Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act,…

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