A statute prohibiting vulgar and offensive trademark registrations infringes free speech because profanity expresses a viewpoint, fashion designer Erik Brunetti has told a federal appeals court.
Brunetti, in a brief filed March 12, argued that the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit should not grant a rehearing to the Patent and Trademark Office, which is seeking to defend the statute. A three-judge panel already sided with Brunetti and struck down the law as unconstitutional.
The prohibition had been part of federal trademark law for over 100 years. A decision to reopen the case may signal the court’s ...