During the past three weeks, a remarkable number of brand name applications for offensive brand names has been filed with the US brand name register.
"Fuck Yourself", "Nigger Please", "Cock Sucker", "Crackhead Jesus", and "Dicks by Mail" are just a few examples.
The cause of this tsunami of offensive applications is a Supreme Court ruling on the 19th of june, in the case Matal vs Tam, in which the Supreme Court ruled that brand names that are desparaging can no longer be banned.
The case was brought to the SC by Simon Tam, Foreman of the Asian-American rock band 'The Slants'. When Tam applied for brand name protection in 2011, the US brand name authority refused that, because according to them, the word 'slant' is offensive, because it is used as a denigrating term for Asians, whose eyes could be described as 'slanted'.
Because the US brand name laws forbid the use of brands that can be viewed as desparaging to minority groups, the authorities refused to register the band name.
Tam appealed, and after a long journey past many courts, finally arrived at the SC, which ruled in his favour.
The SC ruled that the 70 year old brand name law forbidding the use of terms desparaging to minorities are violating the right to free speech, and with that the US Constitution.
Even though this SC ruling only applies to brand names that are desparaging, it is expected to have consequences as well for brand names that are insulting, or offensive. Hence the flood of vulgair applications during the past three weeks.
The ruling will most likely also give a new twist to the lawsuit that has been ongoing for years over the brand name Redskins.
This brand name, applied for by the Washington Redskins football team, was also refused for being desparaging. The ruling in The Slants case will most likely mean the Redskin application will also need to be accepted.
Meanwhile, there already was a backlog of brand name applications from the past year, put on hold in anticipation of the Slant case's outcome. The US brand name authority will now also need to reconsider all of those, ranging from "Camel Toe Camouflage" to "Anal Overdose".
http://www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/merken-fuck-yourself-cock-sucker-en-nigger-please-toch-toegelaten-in-de-vs~a4504242/http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/lee-v-tam/