Menu

Trademarking Profanity: Will the U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Unleash Heck?
📰
0

Trademarking Profanity: Will the U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Unleash Heck?

Knowledge at Wharton·@HashtagPLUS·about 1 month ago
#thJzapAO
Reading 0:00
15s threshold

A business owner has prevailed in a Supreme Court case that pitted the right to free speech against a federal statute barring protection of profanity. The highest court in the U.S. on Monday sided with Los Angeles clothing designer Erik Brunetti, who repeatedly tried to trademark his brand name so he could shut down a copycat competitor. But the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected his application because agency officials determined the name was “immoral or scandalous” as defined by law. The name in question: FUCT, which is word play for “Friends U Can’t Trust.” Brunetti said the mark is pronounced as four letters, one after the other. “But you might read it differently and, if so, you would hardly be alone,” wrote Justice Elena Kagan in the majority opinion, which was joined by justices Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.…

Continue reading — create a free account

Join HashtagPLUS to read full articles, follow hashtags, vote, and join the conversation.

Read More