37541052 – belchonock

It is not often that a court of law can issue a landmark opinion laden with profanity and sexual innuendos.  But last Friday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit seized the opportunity in a colorful decision holding the refusal of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to register street artist Erik Brunetti’s mark “FUCT” is an unconstitutional restriction of Brunetti’s right to free speech.

Brunetti and professional skateboarder Natas Kaupas created the “Fuct” clothing brand in 1990 and sought to register “FUCT” as a federal trademark in 2011.  In its refusal, the USPTO cited Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act which case law has interpreted to bar registration of a mark if a “substantial composite of the general public” would find it “immoral” or “scandalous.”  Brunetti then turned to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) to no avail.

Since the enactment of the 1905 Trademark Act, the USPTO has had the power to refuse registration to marks deemed immoral, scandalous, deceptive, or disparaging.  This restriction was imported into the Lanham Act in 1946 and withstood a constitutional challenge in the 1981 case In re McGinley where the government successfully argued a refusal to register a mark does not implicate an applicant’s First Amendment rights because the applicant can still use the mark as he or she pleases, just without federal trademark protection.

Then came a game-changer when the U.S. Supreme Court decided the pivotal case In re Tam this June involving an Asian rock group who sought trademark registration of the racial slur “THE SLANTS” but was denied under the disparagement provision of Section 2(a).  In Tam, the Court found refusing to register “THE SLANTS” constituted an impermissible viewpoint-based restriction on speech and struck down the disparagement element of 2(a) as unconstitutional.

Judge Kimberly A. Moore of the Federal Circuit wasted little time affirming the TTAB’s finding that “FUCT” was an immoral and scandalous mark rooted in an “unmistakable aura of negative sexual connotations.”  However, Moore acknowledged that, although offensive and uncouth, an immoral and scandalous mark still conveys expression protected by the First Amendment and restricting registration on these grounds constitutes content-based discrimination.

The government conceded this but argued a form of intermediate scrutiny as set forth in the seminal Supreme Court case Central Hudson should apply because trademarks derive from a federal subsidy, involve a limited forum, and constitute commercial speech – arguments largely rejected in Tam.

Judge Moore was not persuaded and found the restriction fails even under intermediate scrutiny.  “In this electronic/Internet age, to the extent that the government seeks to protect the general population from scandalous materials, with all due respect, it has completely failed,” wrote Moore.  The Federal Circuit also found Section 2(a) was not sufficiently tailored enough to exclude, for example, only sexually explicit or obscene material, since “immoral” and “scandalous” are fatally ambiguous.  Moore noted how the subjective nature of Section 2(a) has caused a myriad of inconsistent registrations such as “BACKROOM MILF,” “MUTHA EFFIN BINGO”, and “FCUK” vs. the rejected marks “GOT MILF”, “F**K PROJECT” and Brunetti’s “FUCT.”

In the wake of Tam and Brunetti, critics are concerned that stripping the government’s ability to refuse registration to immoral and scandalous marks will poison the marketplace.  But Lincoln D. Bandlow, a partner in the Fox Rothschild LLP Los Angeles office who specializes in First Amendment and intellectual property matters, told the Los Angeles Daily Journal the market will keep scandalous marks in check.  “Market forces will tamp it down,” he said.  “There’s a lot of things people don’t say on television – not because people don’t want to hear it, but because sponsors don’t want to hear it.”  As for a truly obscene mark depicting sexual conduct, Bandlow added “then you’d have a scenario where you’d have material that’s not protected under the Miller test.”  Miller was the seminal 1973 case in which the Supreme Court held obscene materials do not enjoy First Amendment protection.

The government has ninety days from the entry of judgment to ask the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari.  As of now, it appears the opinion is here to stay.