More Scandalous, Obscene Or Immoral Trademarks

In January 2018 we discussed this bar to the registration of trademarks in Canada. The issue is in the press again as the result of a recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States.

The Facts 

The applicant was an artist and entrepreneur who developed a clothing line sold in association with the trademark FUCT. The applicant's position was that the mark was pronounced as the letters F-U-C-T. But as the court observed, many people would likely read it as a brand name which was the equivalent of the past participle of a well-known word of profanity.

Previously the US trademarks legislation provided that a mark that disparaged a person living or dead, could not be registered.  However, the US Supreme Court in the SLANTS case found this provision was unconstitutional under the US Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.