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Free speech victory: Court strikes down denial of SIOA trademark

Dec 22, 2015 7:31 pm By Robert Spencer

An Appeals Court wisely strikes down a longstanding attempt by the federal government to do what it should never be doing: deciding what is acceptable speech and what isn’t.

SIOA

“Federal Circuit Court of Appeals Finds First Amendment Applies to Trademarks and Rules that ‘Disparaging’ Cannot Be Used to Deny Expressive Trademarks Like ‘Stop Islamisation of America,’” American Freedom Law Center, December 22, 2015:

SIOAAs a kind of Christmas present to liberty and the U.S. Constitution, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc (the entire court), today reversed more than 30-years of jurisprudence by holding that trademark registration under the Lanham Act deserves First Amendment protection.  The import of this holding is that trademarks may no longer be rejected by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) just because the USPTO believes the mark to be disparaging.

In the case In re Tam, the federal court, which specializes in patent and trademark cases, found that the USPTO’s rejection of the musical group name “The Slants” because it disparaged Asians was unconstitutional because there was no “compelling state interest” to censure the viewpoint of the trademark owner.  As a result, Simon Tam will now be able to register his band name as a federal trademark, thus allowing him to protect the name and products and services sold using that name against encroachers and counterfeiters.

What made this decision possible was the recent litigation waged by the American Freedom Law Center (“AFLC”) on behalf of Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer to register their trademark, “Stop the Islamisation of America” (“SIOA”).  Like the Slants trademark, the USPTO rejected the SIOA trademark on the ground that it disparaged Muslims and even Islamists by suggesting they should be “stopped.”  AFLC argued the case before a three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit Court, which upheld the USPTO ruling of disparagement.

However, on the heels of the SIOA decision, by the time the Slants case found its way to the important Federal Circuit Court, the appellate judges were apparently ready to reverse their prior rulings which rejected any First Amendment arguments.  Indeed, the court’s opinion starts off referencing the USPTO’s rejection of the SIOA trademark as a rejection aimed improperly at censuring important expressive speech.  The court went on to reference SIOA, and the underlying case of In re Geller, no less than seven times.

David Yerushalmi, AFLC co-founder and Senior Counsel, noted:

“This demonstrates an important adage about good lawfare and good lawyering.  Even when you lose initially you may still ultimately prevail because good, hard-fought lawfare has a way of exposing bad law and bad judgments.  This is one of those rare instances where a federal court has emphatically and quite properly reversed itself.  You can be certain that our clients will now proudly seek federal trademark registration.”

Robert Muise, AFLC co-founder and Senior Counsel, added:

“At the end of the day, this was a complete victory for the First Amendment and an absolute defeat for political correctness.  Our SIOA trademark case paved the way for this important decision, reaffirming that hard work, determination, and some good lawyering can create a favorable sea change in the law.”

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Filed Under: American Freedom Defense Initiative, Featured, free speech, Stop Islamization of America Tagged With: Federal Circuit Court of Appeals


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Comments

  1. VRWC member77 says

    Dec 22, 2015 at 7:39 pm

    PAMELA Oh yeah!!….You are the best!

    • VRWC member77 says

      Dec 22, 2015 at 7:42 pm

      and of course Robert

  2. Georg says

    Dec 22, 2015 at 7:41 pm

    The US is heading toward a wonderful grouping of societies which “criminalize dissent”.

    What else could be expected from so many in government who are anti-American but un-American policy?

  3. Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says

    Dec 22, 2015 at 8:04 pm

    So “Stop the Islamisation of America” (“SIOA”) has been registered as a U.S. trademark. The abbreviation is probably meant to rhyme with “Iowa”. How ironic it is that the American trademark bears the British spelling “IslamiSation”. Let’s look forward to the registration of the U.K. trademark “Stop the Islamization of Britain” (“SIOB”). The male members of this organization will probably be known as “Si.O.B.’s”, and the female members as “SIOB-sisters”.

  4. mortimer says

    Dec 22, 2015 at 8:12 pm

    The court is concurring with previous judgements including the comments of US Supreme Court justices:

    -Justice Clark in 1952 wrote: “…it is enough to point out that the state has no
    legitimate interest in protecting any or all religions from views distasteful
    to them. … It is not the business of government in our nation to suppress real
    or imagined attacks upon a particular religious doctrine.”
    -Justice Frankfurter noted that beliefs that are “…dear to one may seem the rankest ‘sacrilege’ to another,” and added concerning “sacrilegious” speech: “…history does not encourage reliance on the wisdom and moderation of the censor.”

    The US has no official, established religion and so the court cannot decide which religious opinion is correct.

  5. eduardo odraude says

    Dec 22, 2015 at 9:45 pm

    Great news.

  6. nacazo says

    Dec 22, 2015 at 10:30 pm

    A comedian will soon appear in Jerry Seinfeld’s youtube channel.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-12-21/obama-to-debut-on-jerry-seinfeld-s-comedians-in-cars-getting-coffee-?cmpid=yhoo.hosted

  7. Linde Barrera says

    Dec 22, 2015 at 10:53 pm

    God bless free speech. God bless the Constitution of the United States. God bless Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, David Yerushalmi, Robert Muise.This IS a great Christmas gift.

    • Michael Copeland says

      Dec 23, 2015 at 2:44 am

      Hear hear.

  8. PB says

    Dec 22, 2015 at 11:28 pm

    Great news! Congratulations!

  9. KnowThyEnemy says

    Dec 23, 2015 at 1:48 am

    Congratulations, and thank you Robert and the SIOA team for doing the great work you do!

  10. Bill says

    Dec 23, 2015 at 2:46 am

    Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

  11. HopeUSA says

    Dec 23, 2015 at 3:50 am

    You are of tremendous benefit to this country in more ways tha one. God bless you.

  12. Edwin1683 says

    Dec 23, 2015 at 5:31 pm

    CONGRATULATIONS to Pamela, Robert, SIOA, David Yerushalmi and Robert Muise on this huge win, of which we are all the beneficiaries.

    The importance of the work you do cannot be overstated. America is blessed that you are standing for her values with such strength and determination. Thank you.

    • Edwin1683 says

      Dec 23, 2015 at 5:41 pm

      May you all now enjoy one heck of a well-deserved victory party!!

  13. Angemon says

    Dec 23, 2015 at 6:41 pm

    A hearty “Congratulations!!!” to Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, David Yerushalmi, Robert Muise, and everyone else who fought tirelessly and to the very end.

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