{"id":210,"date":"2015-06-17T19:46:36","date_gmt":"2015-06-17T19:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/?p=210"},"modified":"2020-07-31T13:29:16","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T13:29:16","slug":"federal-circuit-decision-may-change-trademarking-limits-for-craft-brewers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/craftbrewerylegalblog\/2015\/06\/17\/federal-circuit-decision-may-change-trademarking-limits-for-craft-brewers\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Circuit Decision May Change Trademarking Limits For Craft Brewers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Federal Circuit has taken upon itself the task of hearing a case that could turn trademark law on its head.\u00a0 The question before the court is whether banning someone from trademarking an offensive mark is a violation of that person\u2019s constitutional right to freedom of speech.\u00a0 As of right now, if your trademark is disparaging, scandalous or immoral, the USPTO will probably reject it.\u00a0 That could change if the court rules that a trademark is speech for the purposes of the First Amendment.\u00a0 I know some craft brewers who would love to register a scandalous or immoral trademark, and this may be their big chance.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>If you have any trademark issues or concerns, you know where to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/practices\/craft-breweries\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">find us<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Read more about the scandalous trademark controversy\u00a0in my recent article on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.golocalworcester.com\/business\/nguyen-does-prohibiting-a-scandalous-trademark-infringe-on-the-right-to-fre\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GoLocalWorcester.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Federal Circuit has taken upon itself the task of hearing a case that could turn trademark law on its head.&nbsp; The question before the court is whether banning someone from trademarking an offensive mark is a violation of that person&rsquo;s constitutional right to freedom of speech.&nbsp; As of right&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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