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Donald Trump First Amendment

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Trademarking History: Justices Uphold Names Clause, Clash Over Reasoning

On June 13, 2024, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Vidal v. Elster, a case that pitted trademark law against the First Amendment’s free speech protections. While the Court unanimously upheld the Patent and...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Supreme Court Upholds Constitutionality of Lanham Act’s Names Clause

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In Vidal v. Elster, a unanimous Supreme Court of the United States reversed the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s decision, holding that the Lanham Act’s names clause does not violate the First Amendment or...more

Troutman Pepper

Supreme Court Upholds Names Clause in Trademark Law, Emphasizing Historical and Traditional Foundations

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In a landmark decision written by Justice Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the Lanham Act’s provision that prohibits the registration of trademarks consisting of, or...more

Genova Burns LLC

Unanimous But Fractured: Supreme Court Upholds Rejection of “Trump Too Small” Trademark, With Little Guidance for the Future

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Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Vidal v. Ester, 602 U.S. ___ (2024) that the federal prohibition on registering trademarks that identify a living individual without their consent does not violate the First...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

SCOTUS Rules on "Trump Too Small"—Third Recent Ruling on First Amendment Implications for Lanham Act 

The June 13, 2024, U.S. Supreme Court decision in Vidal v. Elster made waves in the trademark community. All of the Court’s decisions are significant, and this matter was of particular interest because the decision marked the...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

Supreme Court Rejects TRUMP TOO SMALL Trademark

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“TRUMP TOO SMALL”- This is the trademark that Steve Elster has been trying to get registered for the past six years since filing his trademark application all the way back in January 2018, during the Trump presidency. Since...more

Weintraub Tobin

(Podcast) The Briefing: SCOTUS to Determine if USPTO Refusal to Register TRUMP TOO SMALL is Unconstitutional

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The Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in the case of Vidal v. Elster to determine whether the USPTO’s refusal to register the trademark “Trump Too Small” violates the applicant’s First Amendment rights. Scott Hervey...more

Weintraub Tobin

The Briefing: SCOTUS to Determine if USPTO Refusal to Register TRUMP TOO SMALL is Unconstitutional

Weintraub Tobin on

The Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in the case of Vidal v. Elster to determine whether the USPTO’s refusal to register the trademark “Trump Too Small” violates the applicant’s First Amendment rights. Scott Hervey...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Lanham Act May “Trump” First Amendment (For Once)

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In what appears to be a shift from prior decisions striking down portions of the federal Lanham Act on First Amendment grounds, the U.S. Supreme Court seems likely to rule against a trademark applicant seeking to register a...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Oral Argument at the Supreme Court Suggests Refusing to Register TRUMP TOO SMALL Trademark Did Not Violate the First Amendment

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The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Vidal v. Elster this week, which asks whether refusing to register a trademark that criticizes President Trump violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. It seems the...more

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Is Trademark Law ‘Too Small' for the First Amendment? - Katten Kattwalk | Issue 25

During the 2016 presidential debate, Senator Marco Rubio taunted Donald Trump for having “small hands.” Now, more than seven years later, progressive activist Steve Elster is continuing his fight to trademark the phrase...more

McDermott Will & Emery

“TRUMP TOO SMALL” Trademark Decision Heads to Supreme Court

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The Supreme Court agreed to review the US Patent & Trademark Office’s (PTO) challenge to a February 2022 ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In the ruling at issue, the Federal Circuit held that...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Supreme Court Will Review TRUMP TOO SMALL Trademark Registration Dispute

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The Supreme Court granted certiorari and will review the Federal Circuit’s opinion that Section 2(c) of the Lanham Act is unconstitutional as applied to a trademark for the term TRUMP TOO SMALL. The TRUMP TOO SMALL trademark...more

Saiber LLC

The Supreme Court Gets a Second Shot at an Important First Amendment and Social Media Issue

Saiber LLC on

The May 10, 2021 post The Donald Trump Twitter Case: Vacated and Dismissed as Moot by the Supreme Court reported how the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed Knight First Amendment Inst. at Columbia University v. Trump, in which the...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Rights of Privacy and Publicity TOO SMALL to Overcome First Amendment Freedom of Speech

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During the 2016 presidential primaries, then presidential candidates Donald Trump and Senator Marco Rubio exchanged insults, with Trump calling Rubio “Little Marco” and Rubio commenting on the size of Trumps hands. Recently,...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

The Federal Circuit Deals Another Blow to the Lanham Act, Finding Section 2(c) Unconstitutional as Applied to a Refusal to...

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Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”) reversed a TTAB decision affirming a refusal to register the phrase TRUMP TOO SMALL because it “comprises the name of [former] President Donald...more

Knobbe Martens

First Amendment Trumps Statutory Ban on Trademark Registration

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IN RE STEVE ELSTER - Before Dyk, Taranto, and Chen.  Appeal from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Summary: The Patent and Trademark Office violated the First Amendment by refusing to register the trademark TRUMP...more

Saiber LLC

The Donald Trump Twitter Case: Vacated and Dismissed as Moot by the Supreme Court

Saiber LLC on

The June 14, 2018 post “The President May Not Block Twitter Followers Because They Disagree With Him Politically” reported how the District Court in Knight First Amendment Inst. at Columbia University v. Trump, 302 F.Supp.3d...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

Should CDA Section 230 Be Changed?

Womble Bond Dickinson on

In the current environment of reckoning for the societal power of Big Tech, one threat seems ever-present on the tongues of those who would cut these companies down to size. Enacting this threat is likely to have the opposite...more

FordHarrison

The First Amendment: Where it is Implicated, and Where it is Not

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Executive Summary: In the wake of the January 6, 2021, unrest at the United States Capitol Building and several social media outlets suspending President Trump’s accounts, free speech is a hot topic. Although the right to...more

Hogan Lovells

Coronavirus: The Hill and the Headlines, January 2021 # 3

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In the Capitol: The U.S. Capitol was engulfed in chaos on Wednesday, as supporters of President Trump, responding to his call to head there, breached the complex, resulting in violence in the seat of America's federal...more

Troutman Pepper

Third Circuit Affirms Protection for 'Pure Opinions'

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In a precedential decision issued on April 14, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed dismissal of defamation and false light invasion of privacy claims brought against Newsweek by a politically active minor...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

The Supreme Court - December 16, 2019

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

On Friday afternoon, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari in the following cases: Trump v. Vance, No. 19-635: Whether as part of a district attorney’s criminal investigation targeting the President of...more

Best Best & Krieger LLP

President’s Twitter Use a Cautionary Tale for Public Officials

The First Amendment continues to evolve to ensure speakers remain protected. This was recently substantiated by the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University,...more

Nossaman LLP

Trump's Tweets: A Warning That Public Officials' Personal Social Media Posts Might Actually Be The Government's

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A recent federal appeals court decision, Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump, concluded that action taken by the President through the use of his personal, not just official White House, Twitter account was considered...more

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