News & Analysis as of

Music Industry First Amendment

Kaufman & Canoles

K&C Sports & Entertainment Law Weekly Roundup - June 2024 #3

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The U.S. Twirling Association and a coach must pay nearly $4.2 million to a baton twirler who was sexually assaulted as a minor during a sponsored international trip, a New York federal jury has found, saying the organization...more

Venable LLP

Tennessee Out Front: Enacting Protections Against AI Misuse in the Music Industry

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Last month, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed into law the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act of 2024—known as the “ELVIS Act”—making Tennessee the first state to address head-on potential misuses of artificial...more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

A Federal Right of Publicity for the Age of AI? Unpacking the Proposed NO FAKES Act

Artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes—video, audio, or photographic content that mimics some or all of the characteristics of one’s identity—have captured the wary attention of the public, politicians and the...more

Weintraub Tobin

Legit or Lawsuit – Fake Drake AI Song

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Earlier this month, a new Drake and Weekend collaboration disrupted the Internet. The only problem was it wasn’t a Drake and Weekend collaboration after all. The song “Heart on My Sleeve” was written and produced by TikTok...more

Bodman

Disparaging, Immoral, and Scandalous Trademarks: Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should

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At a Glance - Even though the Supreme Court has paved the way for brands to register trademarks that may be considered disparaging, immoral, or scandalous, brand owners are reversing themselves and voluntarily changing....more

Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley

Repeal of Net Neutrality? Everyone loses except the powerful

Web Access Through Corporate Control - The barrage of backlash booming around the repeal of the net-neutrality law by the Federal Communications Commission is facing an all-fronts assault. The communications companies that...more

Fenwick & West LLP

Good News for Game Developers: Court Extends Protections for Using Others’ Trademarks in the Advertising of Artistic Works

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In a move that will likely benefit game developers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit explicitly held that First Amendment protection extends to use of third-party trademarks in the commercial promotion of an...more

CMCP - California Minority Counsel Program

In Matal V. Tam, Scotus Rules Prohibition On Disparaging Trademarks Unconstitutional

The Asian American members of the band the Slants adopted that name to “reclaim” and “take ownership” of the derogatory term. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) refused to register a trademark application...more

Fenwick & West LLP

Key SCOTUS Decisions in Tech – First Half 2017

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Despite being short one justice for much of the year, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down multiple significant decisions this past term that can unsettle long-standing legal understandings in multiple technology fields. These...more

Weintraub Tobin

The First Amendment Protects The Trademark Registrability Of THE SLANTS And THE WASHINGTON REDSKINS Irrespective Of Political...

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In 2014, the Washington Redskins lost a battle before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) where the petitioner, a group of Native American activists, sought cancellation of the “Washington Redskins” trademark, which...more

Dickinson Wright

Three Questions from the Supreme Court’s Decision on “Offensive” Trademarks

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Last week the Supreme Court ruled that the Trademark Office may not refuse federal registration to a trademark merely because the mark is “disparaging.” The decision has attracted a lot of media attention, much of it...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Band Trademark Can Rock On: Lanham Act Disparagement Clause Unconstitutional

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In an 8–0 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed an en banc panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and found the disparagement clause of the Lanham Act to be facially unconstitutional...more

Best Best & Krieger LLP

Supreme Court Rules Trademarks are Protected by First Amendment's Free Speech Clause

Trademarks do not constitute government speech, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled. Instead, trademarks qualify as speech protected by the First Amendment Free Speech Clause. As a result, the government cannot reject a...more

Weintraub Tobin

Offensive Trademarks Are Protected Free Speech Under The First Amendment

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Simon Tam is the lead singer of the rock group call “The Slants’, which is composed of Asian-Americans. Tam applied for federal trademark registration of the band’s name. While the term “slants” is a derogatory term for...more

Dickinson Wright

U.S. Supreme Court Holds Trademark Registrations Are Free to Disparage

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Justice Alito’s summary opinion announced in Court Monday morning, in what has come to be known as the Slants case (Matel v. Tam, 582 U.S. ___ (June 19, 2017), was short and sweet but the trademark applications we can expect...more

Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP

If You Have Nothing Nice to Say, Say ®

On June 19, the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a provision of the Lanham Act prohibiting federal registration of disparaging trademarks. The Court’s ruling in Matal v. Tam, 582 U.S. ___, No. 15-1298 (June 19,...more

Adler Pollock & Sheehan P.C.

Supreme Court: First Amendment Protects “Disparaging” Trademarks

Since its enactment as the basic federal law on trademarks in 1946, the Lanham Act has prohibited the registration of “derogatory” trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). On June 19, 2017, the...more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Brands that Bite - The Supreme Court unanimously rules that the First Amendment forbids the Trademark Office from refusing to...

By striking down the “disparagement clause,” a 70-year-old provision of federal trademark law, the Supreme Court’s ruling this week in Matal v. Tam has the potential to change the ways in which people conceive, market,...more

Lewitt Hackman

Disparaging, Degrading, Derogatory Trademarks: They're Now Enforceable Says Supreme Court

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You may remember that several national sports franchises are under fire for trademarks and branding that is seen to be racially disparaging. The Washington Redskins are the first team to come to mind, and it wasn’t too long...more

Jones Day

Siding with The Slants: Ban on Disparaging Marks Held Unconstitutional

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Asian rock band The Slants is no longer "The Band Who Must Not Be Named," as they titled their most recent album. On June 19, 2017, the United States Supreme Court decided Matal v. Tam, striking a provision of the Lanham Act,...more

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC

Supreme Court Holds that First Amendment Protects Disparaging Trademarks

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This week, the U.S. Supreme Court emphasized the importance of broad free speech protection in striking down a statute that allows the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to refuse registration of disparaging trademarks....more

McCarter & English, LLP

Your New ®Ight To Disparage – A Look Inside “The Slants” Lanham Act Decision

The Federal trademark statute’s more-than-60-year prohibition on registering trademarks that may be viewed as disparaging goes out the window with the United States Supreme Court’s recent unanimous decision. The Court ruled...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

Slanting Toward The End Of The Commercial Speech Doctrine

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Amid the hullabaloo over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this week in Matal v. Tam, a much broader and potentially more significant development might be overlooked. It shouldn’t be. The case involved Simon Tam’s band...more

Robins Kaplan LLP

The Supreme Court Holds the Lanham Act’s Disparagement Clause Unconstitutional

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In a closely watched decision, the eight participating members of the Supreme Court unanimously held that the so-called disparagement clause of the Lanham Act violates the First Amendment. The high-profile case of Matan v....more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

SCOTUS: Supreme Court Holds Disparagement Clause of the Lanham Act Violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment

On June 19, 2017, in Matal v. Tam, previously Lee v. Tam, the Supreme Court handed down its most impactful interpretation of the disparagement clause of the Lanham Act to date by holding that at its intersection with the...more

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