National Asian American Civil Rights Organization Disappointed by U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Trademark Case
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Washington, D.C. – Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC (Advancing Justice | AAJC) and 11 Asian American organizations are deeply disappointed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision today in the Matal v. Tam (formerly Lee v. Tam) trademark case.
“The court’s decision unfortunately elevates the interests of commercial speech over the interests of civil rights,” said John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC. “Today, the Supreme Court dismantled the statutory protections that keep any one individual or commercial entity from owning and profiting from a disparaging word or term, regardless of the harm done to minority communities.”
In November 2016, Advancing Justice | AAJC submitted an amicus brief in this case to warn the court about the dangers of opening the federal trademark program to racial slurs and other disparaging trademarks. The case raises two important issues to the civil rights community—combatting slurs and hateful marks that disparage minority groups, and supporting the right of minority groups to reclaim and reappropriate historically derogatory terms. Advancing Justice | AAJC’s brief urged the Supreme Court to recognize and protect both interests.
In this case, involving an Asian American band’s attempt to reclaim and reappropriate a racial slur through its name, “The Slants,” the court found unconstitutional the entire federal provision barring disparaging trademarks. In doing so, the court turned our concerns into reality. As argued in our amicus brief, “[c]ompletely removing the federal bar on registration of disparaging marks does not empower minority communities by aiding reclamation; it only threatens vast social harm by opening the federal registration system to misuse and the benefits of registration to ‘epithets’ and terms of ‘personal abuse.’”
Furthermore, federal registration functionally removes registered words and terms from collective use nationwide. Thus, registration can restrict freedom of speech critical to a community’s movement to reclaim a derogatory term, chilling attempts to protest or re-message disparaging marks.
The negative effects of hateful remarks are prevalent and continue to harm many minority communities as seen by the 67 percent increase in hate crimes against Muslim communities. And the court’s decision to remove the protections against hate speech and other derogatory remarks from commerce is a blow to our communities in this current climate of hate and fear.
“Despite this setback, Advancing Justice | AAJC is committed to documenting and combating hate in all its forms,” said Yang. “And we encourage all communities to use words to inspire positive change, not incite hate.”
About the Amici
The amicus brief was joined by Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC; Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta; Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Chicago; Asian Law Alliance; Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO; Asian Services in Action, Inc.; The Institute for Asian Pacific American Leadership & Advancement; Laotian American National Alliance; National Council of Asian Pacific Americans; National Federation of Filipino American Associations; OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates; and Southeast Asia Resource Action Center.
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