We are all FUCT

In re Bruneti (Fed. Cir. 2017) The Federal Circuit has ruled that trademark law’s bar against registering immoral or scandalous marks is an unconstitutional restriction of free speech.  Thus, on appeal the court has reversed the TTAB’s holding that Bruneti’s mark FUCT is unregistrable. (FUCT Clothing Store). This decision follows the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Matal v. Tam, 137 S. Ct. 1744 (2017).  In that case, the court held that § 2(a)’s bar on the registration of disparaging marks involved a governmental viewpoint discrimination in violation of Free Speech principles. Here, the Federal based its decision on content-based discrimination (rather than viewpoint based) which is also reviewed for strict scrutiny.

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