Full Federal Circuit to Review Ruling on Disparaging Trademarks - McDermott Will & Emery

Full Federal Circuit to Review Ruling on Disparaging Trademarks

Overview


Joanne Ludovici assessed an upcoming Federal Circuit case on whether the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board can reject trademark applications as “scandalous” or “disparaging,” noting that these concepts are something that trademark lawyers “wrestle with all the time—what does ‘disparaging’ mean?” Currently, she noted, any mark that carries a whiff of controversy seems to get rejected by the TTAB.