Following a Supreme Court ruling last month that threw out a federal law prohibiting offensive trademarks, a number of applications have been filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that feature unsavory language. At least seven applications feature some variation of the n-word, according to a report from Reuters.
Until last month’s decision, the agency typically rejected such filings on the basis that they are derogatory to specific groups of people. But the court ruled that such a ban violates free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution. Attorney David Bell, a trademark expert with the law firm Haynes and Boone, told Reuters that “it could be a slippery slope, where you get more people and companies thinking, ‘This is okay.’”
The applications filed so far have not been approved and may be invalid for other reasons. One lawyer told Forward that the swastika application, for example, will likely be denied because the symbol is so well-known.
One of the groups that has most visibly benefited from the ruling is the Washington Redskins, which has been under fire in recent years as criticism over the team’s name, which is wildly offensive to Native Americans, has intensified. Surprisingly enough, the Trump Administration has urged the courts to uphold the federal law prohibiting such trademarks.
