Band Denied Right To Trademark Their “Immoral” Name

Government denies Asian-American Band “The Slants” Name Trademark

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) is denying the right for an Asian-American band to trademark the name, “The Slants”. The government cited Urban Dictionary definitions in order to refuse the request.

The group first applied in 2009 and were refused, due to the nickname being offensive under the “Lanham Act”, forbidding “slanderous” or “immoral” trademarks. The band tried multiple times to secure the name using different arguments such as that they were “reclaiming the term” and “it’s a reference to musical chords”, but there weren’t successful.

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In 2011 they tried again by creating a totally race neutral application, but the PTO just copied and pasted their reasoning for denial from earlier responses. The band is taking their case to federal court, arguing they should be able to trademark the name on First Amendment grounds.

The Slants “Sour Love” official music video

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