from the wall street journal:

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2015/12/22/ruling-upholding-offensive-trademarks-could-give-redskins-a-boost/?mod=wsj_valettop_email

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington struck down a long-standing provision in federal law and sided with Simon Tam, the frontman for the Asian-American rock band The Slants, who sought to register the band’s name. A U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examiner had denied it, saying the phrase was likely disparaging to people of Asian descent.

Tuesday’s decision endorsed a robust view of the First Amendment as it struck down a nearly 70-year-old provision in the Lanham Act that barred the registration of disparaging trademarks. The court, however, also acknowledged its ruling opened the door for the registration of trademarks that contain ethnic slurs and “offend vulnerable communities.”

“Whatever our personal feelings about the mark at issue here, or other disparaging marks, the First Amendment forbids government regulators to deny registration because they find the speech likely to…